Harry Potter and the Life Beyond
by prongsletfanfiction
Summary: This story picks up from the moment the HP books ended, but before the epilogue. What happens to Harry and his friends now that the war is over? Grief fills their hearts. But there is more to it, there is still hope. New oppertunities cross their paths, but they must first get themselves together before they can commit to anything else. Completely based on Canon.
1. Ginny Weasley

**Hello! Thank you for reading my fanfic! This is the first ever fanfiction I have ever written, so I hope you like it. Please review afterwards, cause I still got a lot to learn. I, of course, do not own any of the characters. They all belong to J. K. Rowling. **

After leaving the headmasters office, Ron, Hermione and Harry dragged themselves up all the stairs and through the many halls, stepping over piles of rubbish and even occasionally having to take a detour because blown up walls or stairs block their way, until they finally reached the portrait of the fat lady. But before they could say anything, the portrait swung open to let them trough. Thankfully, the trio climbed through the portrait hole. Ron and Harry climbed up the stairs to the left, to their old dorm, while Hermione parted to the right.

"G'night", was all they were able to mutter, after which they used up their very last energy to throw themselves upon their old beds and immediately fall asleep. They were even too tired to notice that the house-elves had kept their beds made for them the entire school year, in the hope that they might, one day, return. Harry slept a dreamless sleep for a solid eleven hours.

He woke up to the sound of a door closing. He looked over to Ron's bed and saw him vast asleep. A tuft of red hair was the only part of him that was visible from under the covers. Harry tried to get out of his bed, but every single muscle in his body protested against it. He groaned. But despite his stiff muscles and the countless wounds all over his body he managed to reach the bathroom. He did not trust his body enough to believe that he would be able to keep standing in the shower, so he opened the tap and let the steaming hot water pour into the bath. He then proceeded to pull off all of his clothing - he had been wearing them for far too long, he thought - dropped them on the bathroom floor and stepped into the hot water. The water burned his skin but he did not care.

After a few minutes of scrubbing and washing, the water had turned a brownish colour. Harry refreshed the water. "Kreacher?" he whispered. His voice sounded raw and he was unable to speak up. Immediately the house-elf popped up next to him. Harry didn't care that he was naked."Master! Kreacher is so happy to see master Potter alive and well! Kreacher was worried about master when he did not return to Grimmauld place, so long ago. Kreacher knew nothing about where master was, Kreacher was afraid that master might…" He seemed unable to continue the sentence, and looked sincerely sad, as he thought back to this. "It's okay now, Kreacher, it's over." Harry whispered. "Look, can you please get me some clean clothing to wear, and something to eat? I'm starving. Oh, and take these things with you please. You can get rid of them, I never want to wear them again", he said while pointing at the pile of clothing on the ground. "Kreacher will do so right away, master!" and he popped away, with the dirty clothing in his arms. Harry slid under water once again, enjoying the complete silence and nothingness.

After having slept for many more hours, Harry decided that it was time for him to get down to see the others. He would have been perfectly fine with staying in bed for many more days, but there was one person he needed to talk to. Ginny. He owed her an explanation, and he needed to know if she would be willing to give him another chance, no matter how unimportant that might seem at a moment like that. As he walked down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room, he heard the voices of several Weasley's and Hermione.

"So, when will you _finally _tell us what you've been doing these past ten months? I've had enough of your secrets!"

Ginny. He stepped into the common room and saw the entire Weasley family and Hermione sitting there. Yet, they were incomplete. They would never be complete again, and that was his fault. When the others noticed him standing in the doorway they fell silent. Then Mrs. Weasley jumped up and walked towards him, grabbing him in a crushing hug.

"Oh Harry, dear, you've been so brave, you did so so so well!", she sobbed. "Thank you. Thank you for ending it. You have been so brave." Harry felt uncomfortable. Mrs. Weasley has just lost a son because of him, and yet she acted like he was still welcome in her family. _They must hate me now, _he thought.

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Weasley, I really am. I should have done it faster, I should have been cleverer, I… I… Fred, he…" he muttered.

"Oh honey, oh sweetie, no one blames you. You did what you could and you did amazingly. We're all _so_ proud of you! Don't you dare blame yourself for what happened. It was his own decision to fight." Her voice cracked.

"Molly, just be a little bit more careful with him, I think it's wise to send him to madam Pomfrey first", said Mr. Weasley, as he walked towards the two of them.

"C'mere, Harry. She's right, you know. We don't blame you, none of us does. Of course we're devastated about it. But it was his own choice, he knew what danger fighting would bring, but he went anyways."

When Mr. Weasley pulled back, Harry saw tears running down his face. And as much as Harry wanted to believe what they said, he couldn't. Voldemort had been very clear: if Harry would not come to him, there would be a battle. And Harry didn't go, thus the fighting had been for him; so _he_ wouldn't die. It was only when Mrs. Weasley gently pushed him further into the common room, that he could see the rest of the people sitting there. Ron and Hermione looked at him with a worried expression on their faces, their eyes red from the tears. Percy and Charlie sat together and looked like they were silently discussing something. Bill and Fleur were tied together in a hug, softly swinging back and forth with their eyes closed. George was… Oh George. Harry couldn't imagine what he must be feeling, how hard this would be on him. He looked like a ghost, and simply stared out of the window. His eyes looked empty. Harry simply couldn't bear to look at his face.

_ So this is the hero everyone seems to adore? A man that can't even face the results of his actions? _ He thought. And then there was Ginny. When Harry turned his gaze at her, he felt once again that he had forgotten how beautiful she actually was. Her skin was blotchy, her eyes were red and her hair was a mess, but she was still easily the most beautiful woman he had ever met. But her eyes… Her eyes looked too old for her face. But it was the look in those eyes that did it. She looked at him so determined, yet so hurt, and he immediately realised that he had hurt her.

"Have you had anything to eat yet, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked him.

"Uh, yes. Kreacher brought me some", he muttered, as he turned away from Ginny's gaze. He would have to talk to her soon.

"You should check up at madam Pomfrey, Harry". That was Hermione. Her voice was soft and gentle, but he could hear that her throat was thick from the tears. "We'll go with you", she said as her and Ron stood up.

"Thanks". He didn't feel like going to madam Pomfrey, he didn't feel like hearing her comments on his wounds, he didn't feel like being treated and he didn't want the pain to go away. It distracted him from the pain inside his chest, the pain that could not be treated, the pain he somewhat deserved. But to be very honest, he didn't feel like anything at the moment, except for laying in bed, with the pillow over his head and not coming out, ever again. But he went anyways. They walked silently along each other, until they had almost reached the hospital wing.

"We have to tell them", said Ron. Harry didn't have to guess what he meant: everything.

"So you didn't tell them yet?" "No, for most of the time we were asleep, and after that we thought we'd wait for you. We thought it would be best to tell everyone who deserves to know at once". Ron's voice sounded soft, but vast. Harry silently agreed.

Madam Pomfrey had immediately decided he had to stay in the hospital as soon as he saw him. Harry didn't really mind that, as he had little else to do and it was a good way to avoid people. At least, that's what he had thought, until Ginny walked in. He silently groaned when he saw her. Of course, there was nothing he would rather do than cry on her shoulder, hold her and kiss her, but he couldn't. They'd have to talk, and he would probably never kiss her again. He was certain that she had found someone else, or at least did not want _him_ anymore, after all that he had caused. However, Harry knew that postponing their conversation would only make things worse, so instead of pretending to sleep when she walked in, he sat up straight.  
"Hey", she said.  
"Hi"  
She sat down on the chair next to his bed, and they sat in silence for a while, until Harry spoke again.  
"I'm sorry and thank you"  
"For what?"  
"For the trouble and bad things I caused to your family, for breaking up with you last year, for the battle, for everything. And thank you for fighting and talking to me."  
She sighed.  
"Harry, you are taking the situation the wrong way and I think that deep down you know that. None of all this is your fault, okay? I knew you would take it that way, I know you too well to not see this coming, but you are wrong. Fred didn't die for you, nor did any of the others. They died because they wanted Voldemort dead. They died because they could not stand by and watch as Voldemort ruined and killed more and more of what they loved and was dear to them. No, don't interrupt me, I have to say this, although I wonder how long it will take for you until you realise I am right. We all knew there would be a battle, we just didn't know when and where. Then suddenly you showed up to Hogwarts, but to be honest, that wasn't much of a surprise either. Now, I don't know the reason you came here, but I am sure it was a good one and a mission worth fighting for. By coming here, all you did was unite everyone who was willing to fight Voldemort and give them a chance to do so. People were tired of not being able to do much, even more about the war. They were glad they would finally have a chance of helping to end it."  
Harry awkwardly fumbled with the bedsheets, unable to look into Ginny's eyes, as they looked like they were filled with fire. The determination, the confidence and the anger set on her face made her intimidating, a bit scary even. But he knew that is was this attitude of her that made him fall in love with her. _Merlin, she was strong!_  
"Everyone knew what Voldemort and his Fanclub were capable of, we all heard the stories or witnessed it ourselves. Yet, that didn't stop people from standing up to him. You were their last hope, Harry. _Our_ last hope. No one knew what you were up to, yet they all supported you. No one blames you, the entire country loves you. And so does my family. So do I."  
Those last three words came out very softly, yet clear enough for Harry to be certain that he heard them correctly. _ She still loved him? After all this time? After everything that had happened?_  
"Ginny, I…"  
"No, shut up you, I'm not yet finished." She was silent for a while. "Yes, I do in fact still love you. But you did hurt me, and I can't go on and pretend like nothing happened. Of course I _understand_ why you broke up with me, but that didn't make it easier. You tried to protect me even though I was willing to take the risk. Because, come on, I'm a Weasley, that's quite hard to miss, he would come after us sooner or later anyways. Yet you were once again to noble and too selfless to risk my safety. I just wish you would have cared about what I was willing to do and risk for us. You thought that you were the only one willing to take risks against Voldy and his followers, but you weren't. We were all fighting too, back here. And you were also not the only one having a hard time, we were too. We were literally punished with the cruciatus curse every time we in any way expressed any anti-Voldemort sentiments. We were worried sick, but you didn't contact us even once. The only hope we had were the posters with your head hanging all around the place. They confirmed to us that you had not yet been captured, that you were still alive. And of course you couldn't just send us an owl, of course you had to be careful. But Bill told us you were staying at his place, and even then you did not bother to leave a single message for us. I waited for you, you know? I waited for you for ten utterly long months, but it seemed like you haven't thought about us, about me, much. And that hurts."  
Harry did not dare to interrupt her even once, the look on her face spoke volumes. It fell silent for a while as Harry did not know what to say. He knew he disappointed her, but he never knew he hurt her this much.  
"I know an apology won't suddenly make everything all right, but for what it's worth: I'm sorry. I think it is best to just be honest right now, so umm… I didn't know. You can call me oblivious for not noticing, but I didn't realise I hurt you that much. And you are right, I realise that now, I should have at least tried to find a safe way to contact you, even if it was just a sign of life, or told you what we were up to. But I didn't. You were wrong about one thing, however. I did think about you. All the time. See, every single night I would look at the marauders map to see where you were, if you were even there. Every day I thought about you and what you would be doing at that moment, if you were safe. And about the battle… Well, it all sounds so logical when you say it like that, but, no, now I'm talking, but… If I think about it just doesn't feel that way. You said it yourself: I gave the go-ahead signal. Well, maybe I shouldn't have. Maybe I should have finished what I came for, and then await a good moment to finish Voldemort by myself, then no one would have gotten hurt. If I did things faster, if I had thought smarter, if I had prepared better… There is so much that I could have done differently! It's just impossible to think that I did not cause their deaths! It was my responsibility to finish him, and I shouldn't have needed so many people giving their life's for me. You can't deny that they fought to protect me! Voldemort was very clear, he said he would be satisfied if I would come to him, that he would leave the rest of us alone if only he had me. Had I finished my mission just a few minutes earlier, then I could have just gone up to him and there wouldn't have been a fight. If only…"  
It was again silent for a while, and Harry threw Ginny a quick glance. She looked sad and a bit annoyed, but her anger had faded away.  
"I don't know how to convince you of this, Harry, but people chose for themselves. They would have never protected you if they didn't think you were worth it. And of course Voldemort said he would leave the rest of us alone, but you know as well as I do that that was a lie. Voldemort knew damn well that by the time the castle had filled up with people that were willing to oppose him. It was simply too good of an opportunity to let go for him: his greatest enemies all gathered together, and ready for him to finish them. But okay, just suppose he did let us go. We all knew that if he had killed you, there would be nothing holding him back and he would have killed us on another occasion." Silence again. "Well, I guess all that can convince you is time. I don't think it is of much use to keep talking into you. I think you need time to process everything, and you'll see I am right. I'm going to leave you now, you need to rest."  
And with that, she stood up. Suddenly, Harry realised there was still one thing he had forgotten to tell her. "Ginny?"  
"What?"  
"I love you. I really do. And I hope you are willing to give me a second chance, but I would also understand it if you wouldn't. I just need time, I need time to heal."  
This time it wasn't so hard to look Ginny in her eyes. He could read from her facial expressions that this was what she had been waiting for, and anxiously waited for her to react.  
"I love you too, Harry… But… Will you promise me something?"  
"What is it?"  
"No more secrets, okay?"  
"Okay, I promise."  
"And were you planning on telling us about _where the hell_ you have been, these last ten months?"  
"Yes. Hermione, Ron and I were planning to do that with everyone together, at once. It's quite a long story, you see."  
"Well, in that case I would want nothing rather than give you a second chance", Ginny whispered. She stepped towards him and gave him a quick kiss on his lips, before quickly turning around and leaving the room. And despite everything, Harry couldn't help but grin widely.

**Sooo, this was the first chapter. I have already started on the second chapter, and I hope to finish it soon. Please let me know what you thought of this, and suggestions are Always welcome. Also, I hope my grammar and spelling was all correct, because english is not my first language so I still tend to make mistakes here and there. Thanks for reading! XXX**


	2. The Great Hall

**Hey there! So I finished the second chapter. This one was a bit harder because I didn't want to make the telling of the stories part too long. After all, we already know what happened. I want to say thank you to everyone that reviewed, I ll try to respond to it asap. And dont hesitate to review this time, it makes my day! I took one quote more or less directly from the books, I put it in bold. I think it was in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I dont own any of the caracters, they all belong to JKRowling Then I guess there is only one thing left to say: enjoy! **

It was the third day after the battle. Harry had spent most of the first day and night asleep and the second day and night in the hospital under the tender but strict care of madam Pomfrey. After Ginny's visit, Ron and Hermione, who were both staying in another room in the hospital wing, popped by for a while, and they had discussed what exactly they would tell, and more importantly, to who. Apparently there was a huge crowd of journalists and reporters camping outside of Hogwarts gates, and the only reason they did not come up to his bed to bury him under their enormous amounts of questions was that professor McGonagall had decided that no one, without a valid reason, was allowed inside the castle until everyone had safely returned home and they would start the rebuilding of Hogwarts. It was clear that with "everyone", McGonagall had mainly meant the trio, to protect them from the publicity and allow them to recover a bit before being confronted with huge crowds of reporters. Harry couldn't express how grateful he was for this. By the time, most people had returned to their homes or had been transferred to St. Mungo's. Harry, Ron and Hermione decided not to tell the press anything of what they had been doing while they were gone. They would make a short statement to the press, but there would be no mention of horcruxes. The last thing they wanted to do was to inspire young, dark wizards to follow into Voldemort's footsteps by bringing horcruxes into full publicity or even into the history books.

In the morning of the third day, Harry had recovered a lot already, and he decided it was time to tell the people closest to them their story. He found the room Ron and Hermione were staying in empty, and wandered off to the great hall. The great hall had been hit very badly. Of course Harry had seen it in the hours after the battle, but now that it was almost empty from people and with new energy, it finally came to him. As he stood in the doorway, he let his gaze pass through the hall. Some of the walls had broken down and there was rubble _everywhere._ It was a devastating sight. In the middle stood a large table at which a few people, including the Weasley's, a few of the professors and several members of the order and the DA sat. Ginny spotted him first and came over to him.  
"Hey"  
"Hey", he couldn't help but grin at her.  
"You had a good night of sleep?" she asked.  
"Yeah, sort of. I'm having trouble sleeping, nightmares and such, but it was okay." He had never spoken to anyone about his nightmares, yet to Ginny, he just seemed to blurt it out. "And you?"  
"A bit of the same. Nightmares too… Hey listen, I haven't told my family about us yet, also not about the first time we dated, so…uhm….. You know what, for Merlin's sake, I have waited long enough!" And with that having said she swung her arms around Harry's neck and kissed him. He had forgotten how she tasted, but damn this was good. After some time she pulled back again.  
"Uh, wow, I was not expecting this… But…" With a goofy grin on his face and one hand still on her waist he looked down at her. "It was good, I like this. We could do this more often".  
"We sure…"  
But she was interrupted by Bill.  
"What the_ hell_ Ginny! What _was_ that?!" Quickly, Ginny turned around. _ Merlin's beard_, he had forgotten that everyone sitting there could see them, and judging by the looks on their faces they probably did. How could he have been so stupid? Hermione just looked at them with a broad smile on her face, Mr. Weasley winked at them with a small but gentle smile playing around his lips and George… This was probably the first time he smiled since the loss of his other half, although it did look like he was more amused by the reaction of his family than that he was happy for them, but that was at least better than how the rest of the Weasley's looked at them. Ron had an awkward look on his face, but looked like he tried to express his happiness for them. Charlie was simply shocked, and perhaps a bit angry, Percy looked very confused. Then there was Mrs. Weasley. She looked at the two of them wide eyed, her mouth a bit open and clearly at a loss of words. And Bill… Bill was just…  
"What the _hell_ were you two doing?!" he yelled at Ginny.  
"Well, that was about the only thing that seems _very_ clear to me right now!" George exclaimed. Bill ignored his brother.  
"It looks like you're back to good health again, Harry. Glad to see so", a dreamy voice suddenly stated. Harry looked over to Luna._ Great! Now they all got a good look at us snogging! _ Harry thought sarcastically. Ginny took on a defensive and determined look on her face and took a pulled Harry next to her, before wrapping an arm around his waist. Carefully he placed an arm around her shoulders. _Well, better to stand my grounds now, I guess. Too late to crawl back. _  
"Please explain yourselves right now!" Mrs. Weasley demanded strictly.  
"Well, I guess it's kinda clear what's going on, mom."  
"Watch your mouth, young lady!" Mrs. Weasley was clearly not amused. "How long is this been going on for?"  
"Well, we dated for a while in my fifth year, but then Harry decided he had to go and hunt bad guys and of course he was way too noble and selfless to keep up our relation because that would mean I would be in even more danger, so he broke up with me, but we made it up yesterday and now we're just going to continue where we left off. So that's the story and could you now please be so kind as to stop staring at us? I think Harry was just ready to tell us all about his recent adventures but not if you scare him away like this."  
Harry unconsciously smiled at her. _Man, he loved her. _  
"We're going to have a good talk about this later on, Ginevra". Apparently their eager to hear the trio's story was greater than their urge to interrogate Harry and Ginny about every detail of their relationship. They sat down amongst the others and Harry quickly scanned the table to see who was there.  
"Don't worry about that, mate, we already made sure everyone who should know is here, and who shouldn't is not", Ron assured him. An expecting silence fell over the table, as dozens of eyes were turned to him. Harry sighed.  
"Where should I start?"  
"I suggest the beginning."  
"If only it were that easy." It fell silent again, but after a while Harry started to talk.  
"Before I begin, I want to ask every single one of you to never ever tell anyone anything of what we are about to tell you. This story includes the darkest of magic many of you have ever heard of, and we are going to do our best to ensure that this magic will be forgotten, and can never fall into the hands of any young dark wizard ever again." The people around the table sincerely nodded at him. "Well, here goes then… About a year before I was born, a prophecy was made to professor Dumbledore, about me. That prophecy stated, and I quote: '**The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who have trice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have a power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives.'**" He shrugged. "I memorised it. Anyway, that description fitted two people, both Neville and me." There were a few gasps around the table because people did not see this coming. Harry looked over to Neville. He looked shocked. "Go on", he whispered. So Harry continued. "One of Voldemort's death eaters heard part of the prophecy, and immediately reported this to his master, and a year after I was born, Voldemort decided upon killing me. I don't know why he chose me, but he did. We all know what happened then. My mother refused to step aside as he threatened to kill her son. If she had, she would still be alive. That sacrifice she made granted me with an old form of magical protection that Voldemort never knew of. Because of this protection, Voldemort was unable to hurt me, and so when he avada kedavra'd me, his curse rebounded to himself. This protection is the power the prophecy spoke of, and by trying to kill me, Voldemort marked me as his equal. When his curse rebounded, he should have died. But he didn't. This is all because of the dark magic Voldemort used. When he was sixteen, Voldemort discovered the magic of horcruxes. Well, I don't think any of you knows what that is, so let me explain. A horcrux is an object in which a piece of one's soul can be stored. This can be anything. The thing is, however, that a horcrux can only be made by ripping your soul apart by committing a murder. But as long as the horcrux is there, you cannot die." Harry looked around the table again. Everyone had a look of true horror on their faces.  
"So that's what you did, wasn't it? You three went looking for the horcrux this year." Charlie asked.  
Ron, Harry and Hermione all grimly smiled, after which Hermione continued the story.  
"If only it had been that easy. No, it wasn't just one, he made six." Several people gasped. They had all known Voldemort was horrible and inhumane, but splitting your soul into _seven _pieces… That was just horrible on a whole new level.  
"The diary that possessed Ginny in her fist year, that was one of them", Ron continued. Ginny turned pale.  
"That thing… That… It was a _piece of Voldemort's soul_ that I trusted with my biggest secrets and held in my hands for so long?" Harry answered her.  
"Yes it was. But in the chamber of secrets, I stuck a basilisk tooth in it, and basilisk venom just so happens to be one of the only things that can destroy a horcrux. So that was one that could be checked off the list. I had given the diary to Dumbledore, and in my sixth year, when Dumbledore started giving me tutoring lessons, I found out that he had done quite some research since that diary. He managed to find out that there were most likely six horcruxes, because Voldemort split his soul in seven: one piece was present in his body. He also found out what some of the horcruxes most likely were, and he found and destroyed one. Do you remember he showed up to Hogwarts with one hand all black, two summers ago? That happened when he had put one of the horcruxes in the form of a ring on his finger. The ring cursed him, and although Snape managed to control the curse in his hand and prevent it from spreading further, Dumbledore was slowly dying. That's when he made the agreement with Snape: Snape had to kill Dumbledore, to gain Voldemorts trust and become a triple agent. He gave Voldemort information from the Order on the command of Dumbledore and sometimes even Dumbledore's portrait. He was the one that informed Voldemort about the day and time the Order would be moving me to the burrow." It was silent for a while. Even though they were there when Harry had revealed that Snape still worked for Dumbledore to Voldemort in the final battle, for most people sitting at the table, this was still a hard to grasp concept.  
"So that is where you had been, the night Dumbledore died, wasn't it? You two had been horcrux hunting", professor McGonagall asked.  
"Yes it was indeed. I had asked him if I could come with him, if he found another horcrux. He promised me I could and so we went. Of course Voldemort didn't leave his horcruxes unattended and open for everyone to take, so when we were trying to get through Voldemort's safety measures, Dumbledore was weakened a lot. He was no match for the Deatheaters to disarm and capture when we arrived back at Hogwarts, until Snape killed him. But our trip to the horcrux had been for nothing. Someone else had already figured out Voldemort's secret and taken the locket that was the horcrux. It was Regulus Black, Sirius' brother".  
Not many people at the table knew Regulus' story, but those who did stared at him in disbelief.  
"So you are telling me that Regulus' managed to figure this out on his own and went to take it? Is that how he died?"  
When Harry confirmed both questions, professor McGonagall looked at him and whispered  
"If only Sirius had known about this. He was so heartbroken when his little brother joined the deatheaters, when he followed their family's path… With him in the Order, that would make them enemies. If only he had known…"  
Ron broke the silence by continuing where Harry had left off.  
"So by the time, two horcruxes had been destroyed, and of three of the remaining ones we knew what they were. When we fled Bill and Fleur's wedding, we went to Grimmauld's place. There we found out that Kreacher had accompanied both Voldemort and Regulus when they brought and took the locket. He told us Mundungus Flecher had taken it" – the name of Fletcher had raised some irritated scoffs and groans – "and Dobby and Kreacher together managed to track Fletcher down. Only one problem: Fletcher had given it to Umbridge in order to escape punishment." – The scoffs intensified, and many people grimaced at the name of Umbridge – "That's why we made up a nice plan to invade the ministry. We had taken mad-eyes reservoir of polly-juice potion, and used some of it to turn ourselves into three people that worked at the ministry."  
"No way! That was actually you?! Pottermore mentioned it as a rumour, that it could actually have been you three that had created that nice chaos. But now you're telling me that that was actually true?!" Neville exclaimed.  
"Was it you who saved that group of muggle-borns?"  
"So you were just planning on walking up to that toad and taking the locket off her?"  
Everyone was talking at once, trying to respond to this revelation.  
"Please, please, let me explain!" Ron laughed.  
Ron continued. He told everything there was to tell about their invasion of the ministry, sometimes supplemented by Harry and Hermione. After that they kept talking. They talked about the camping, about their frustration when they didn't know where the rest of the horcruxes could be. When Hermione reached the point of Harry and Ron's fight and the moment Ron left she hesitated. She looked at Ron questioning and a bit uneasy. Quickly Ron took over.  
"Well, then tensions rose high, Harry and I got into a fight and I left. As soon as I had disapparated and cooled down a bit, I regretted it heavily, but because of the excellent protective spells we put up I couldn't find them anymore so I stayed with Bill and Fleur for some time until I finally found them again." His voice was soft, he spoke quick and as-a-matter-of-factly, and he looked truly remorseful.  
Harry picked up the story again.  
"It's okay mate, we talked about this, remember? Besides, we took turns in wearing Voldemort's locket, and at the moment of our fight, you were wearing it. We all know it influenced you far worse than it did to us. But we soon found out why we needed you so much. Sure, we had accomplished little since the Ministry, but when you were gone our productivity crashed down even further."  
Harry picked up the story from here, and the three of them told about their nearly fatal visit to Godric's end, Ron's return (Harry made sure to tell this part as spectacular and heroic as possible), their visit to Mr. Lovegood and their traumatic captivity at Malfoy Manor. At this part, Hermione fell silent. Harry saw tears blinking in her eyes. He grabbed her hand across the table and held it tight until they had reached a better part of their journey. Somewhere at the start of the story, Mrs. Weasley had put her arm around Ron and for the rest of the story she held him tightly, as if she tried to protect him from the harm that had already been done. She had a horrified look on her face, and every now and then tears streamed down her face. Somewhere along the story, Ginny had put an arm around Harry as well and laid her head on his shoulder. Ron was holding Hermione. Harry and Ron quickly rounded off Malfoy Manor, not wanting to go into much detail, and definitely not wanting to remind Hermione of that day for much longer. Dobby's death saddened them all, but they were relieved the story had taken a lighter turn after that. And then, almost at the end, they finally reached their great burglary into Gringotts. With pride in their voices they told the story. Harry knew that, even though at the moment they would have done anything to get it over with, their break-in, and even better, their escape, was soon to become a legend. It _did_ sound very cool, he admitted to himself. Ron and Hermione rounded off the story by telling about how they found the last one and destroyed the cup and then it fell silent again. No one said anything or made any sound for a few minutes, as everyone tried to process everything they had just heard. People were visibly stricken by what they had learned. But the story wasn't over yet. Harry knew that he would have to tell this last part on his own, so he took a deep breath and broke the silence.  
"We… We… We went to Voldemort to see if we could find a way to end that snake. We couldn't, but we did witness him killing Snape. Voldemort left and we went up to Snape. He gave me some of his memories and we returned to the castle. That is when Voldemort called his troops to withdraw. We had an hour, so I went to the headmasters office and took a look at the memories. They showed me about Snape and Dumbledore's pact… And… About something else… It was Dumbledore telling Snape that by the time Voldemort kept his snake close around him, protected that snake, it was time to tell me that… that I had to die. Dumbledore had known all along… When Voldemort tried to kill me as a baby, he accidentally made me his seventh horcrux: the horcrux he never intended to make and never knew he made. The only way Voldemort could die was if he killed me first." Silence.  
"So I went. I faced him in the forest, and I knew that Hermione and Ron knew what had to happen. I trusted them to be able to finish the job, and I had told Neville too, that the snake had to be killed. I stood in front of him. I looked him in the eye… And… he killed me. I don't know exactly what happened next, but when I woke up again, Voldemort was lying on the ground and I was still alive. Or rather, again. I don't know exactly. But anyhow, Voldemort was surrounded by death eaters so I knew I had to await my chance to finish him. Therefore I pretended to be dead. Hagrid carried me to the castle and… The rest is history…"  
No one said anything, not wanting to be the first to break the silence with their questions, Harry could see it on their faces. But he wasn't at all eager to answer or even hear their questions. He didn't want to know how worried they must have been, those ten months. So he did the only thing that appealed to him at the moment: he stood up and walked out of the door.

**Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Suggestions for the story are always welcome. Chapter 3 is coming up! XXX**


	3. The Burrow

**Hullo! Another chapter is ready for you to read! I hope you enjoy it. I really enjoy all of your reviews, so keep reviewing! Also, or especially critisism or tips are welcome. I do not own anything, it all belongs to JKRowling.**

Harry didn't know where he was going, he only knew he had to get away from people and away from questions. He walked out of the castle and headed for the gates, before he remembered the crowds of reporters that were waiting to get the full story and every detail of his life. Harry sighed. Of course he had always been in the publicity, that's just what happens when you are the boy-who-lived. He knew however, that this time it would be a hundred times worse. Everyone he had ever met would be harassed by the press in order to get even the slightest details about his life or who he was. This time, they weren't planning on giving up any time soon. Harry turned around and started to randomly walk around the school grounds, until he ended up at the oak by the lake. Here he sat down and stared ahead of him. Feelings of guilt and grief came washing over him and he started to shake heavily. _Would it ever get better?_ Was the war really over? Sure, Voldemort was gone. But what about his followers? Many got killed or captured in the battle, but Harry knew there were still many more that had not been captured yet. _Was he safe now? _ Or even more importantly, were the people he loved and cared for finally safe? He didn't think he could ever survive losing even one more person. And surely, he would never be able to fully forgive himself for it. _Why would I forgive myself? It's my fault!_ Now he was not only shaking, but also sweating heavily. He couldn't breathe, his breath was too fast, too shallow. What was happening to him? Was he going to die? He tightly closed his arms around his chest, let go again and threw himself on the grass. He lay on his back but it didn't help. He looked up at the sky, but couldn't see anything. _I'm going to suffocate! What's happening? _ Suddenly he felt someone sit down next to him. With the biggest effort he managed to turn his head and saw that it was Ginny. She didn't say anything, but gently pulled his head up in her lap and started stroking his hair. After a minute or so, when she saw it didn't help she started to talk to him softly.

"It's okay Harry, it's okay. You have to breathe properly now, okay? On my count. When I tell you to breathe in, you take a breath. When I tell you to breath out, you breathe out. Okay?"  
Harry could barely understand what she was saying, but he found that just the tone of her voice made him ease a little bit.

"Okay, here we go. Breathe in… Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out."

Harry listened to her calming voice and slowly he felt his body ease a bit. The shaking lessened, the sweating stopped and finally, he relaxed again. He sat up, a bit ashamed of his reaction.

"Thanks", he muttered. "I don't know what that was, I…"

"It's okay."

They silently sat next to each other, staring over the lake and both lost in their own thoughts. After what felt like an hour, Harry broke the silence.

"I don't know what to do. I just don't know. Sure, we won the war. But at what cost? Was it really winning if we lost so much?"

"I know. I feel the same way. But I also know that Fred wouldn't have wanted us to think this. He died so we could have piece, so we would be free. I know how wrong it feels to laugh when he is not here anymore. I know how hard it will be to live a future without him. But we have to. We owe it to him. He, and all those others, they died so we could do just that." Her voice trembled and caught in her throat. "But not yet. First we have to recover. And it won't be easy, it'll take a lot of time and a lot of tears before we can move on. We must remember them and what they have done for us, but we have to learn to let go as well. When the time is there."

Harry looked over to Ginny and saw tears streaming down her face. He pulled her up to him. He sat with his back against the oak, she sat between his legs with her back resting to his chest. He buried his face in her hair and wrapped his arms around her. They sat like this for much longer and had a good conversation, until they became hungry and headed back towards the castle. After they ate something together with Luna, Neville, Ron and Hermione, Mrs. Weasley came up to them.

"It's time to go home, darlings. You two can prepare your things, we're leaving in an hour. Oh, Harry, Kingsley asked me to ask you to come see him later on."

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley."

"I think it's about time you started calling me Molly, dear."  
Harry smiled at her. "Thanks".

"Boys, you two will be sleeping in Charlie's bedroom, if you don't mind. It's a bit of a puzzle actually, now that George doesn't want to… You know… His old room…" She muttered, as grief settled on her face once again.

"I don't know Mrs. Wea… I mean, Molly. I, uh, I thought I'd maybe better go back to…" But before he could finish his sentence Mrs. Weasley fiercely interrupted him.

"Oh No! Nothing of that! Of course you are not going back to that bloody Grimmauld place! You are coming with us! Both of you! – While she motioned at Hermione - I am not going to let my children get away ever again!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Molly, but…"

"No but's! You are coming with us and that's it. Arthur is already installing some protective enchantments together with a man from the ministry to keep out the press. Now, you better go and see Kingsley, he told me he had a lot to discuss with you."  
With that she turned around and walked away. Harry loved her for this, but he felt like an intruder in the family's grief. Sure, they had welcomed him in their family like he was one of them, but still, he didn't _really_ belong there.  
He stood up and went looking for Kingsley Shacklebolt. He found him quickly, and they entered a classroom.

"So, Harry", Kingsley said as they sat down. "There is a lot I want to discuss with you. Too much to discuss right here and right now so I would propose to schedule an appointment in two days in my office. Is that alright with you?"  
"Yes of course! However, may I ask what you intend to discuss? Because you see, I don't have very good experience with ministers of magic. Your predecessors either tried to ridicule me and dismiss me as a naïve, little, attention seeking kid, or tried to use me as a publicity stunt to get the public on their side. I'm just warning you beforehand that I am never going to let myself be used by anyone ever again."  
"I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I might be anything like my predecessors and I am sorry about how they treated you, Harry, because I'm not. I might hold the same function as they did, but my moral compass is many times stronger. I promise you I will never use you as a 'publicity stunt' and that I will be better than they were."  
"Thank you, Mr. Shacklebolt. I would never expect you to be anything like Fudge or Scrimgeour, I think you have proven yourself in the Order, but it's just…"  
"I understand, Harry. They let you down, to say the least, and your trust in the minister of magic has been damaged, I get that. I hope I can get that trust back again."  
Harry smiled.  
"So why did you want to see me sir?"  
"There are many reasons I wished to see you. Of course I heard your story this morning, and I have a few questions for you. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. First of all… Minerva told me you had the ambition to become an auror after Hogwarts. I was wondering if that ambition is still there?"  
"Well, I don't really know. I haven't really thought past this point for the past years. I mean…"  
"Yes, I didn't expect you to. And you are allowed to take as much time to consider this before you agree or not, but I would like to offer you a job at the ministry's auror department."  
Harry stared at him in shock.  
"You mean… So I… But what about my seventh year at hogwarts? Or auror training? I haven't done either of them."  
"I am aware of that, Harry, but I think you did more than prove yourself in these past few months. Even before this year, actually. You have faced dark magic and deatheaters so many times, I am pretty sure your experience on the field makes up for the lack of education. Of course there are certain things you will still have to learn, such as procedures and certain fields of magic that you have not yet used that much, but I am sure we can find a way to do so while having the job as well. Doing the studying and working at the same time. I'll give you some time to think about it, and I'll see you in two days at the ministry. Then we'll discuss it in more detail, if you're interested."  
"Thank you, Mr. Shacklebolt. Thank you very much. But you must know that I never did it alone, I never could have. I always had friends at my sides."  
"I am aware of that, and I have the same offer for them. Could you send up Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Granger, please?"  
"I will. Thank you."  
And with that, Harry left the classroom. For the first time since the battle had ended, he allowed himself to get a peek in the future. Having a job, something to do again, would change everything. But could he accept this offer? It almost seemed to good to be true. He had never been lucky, so why did luck suddenly seem to be on his side? _No, that's bullshit. I can't call myself lucky. If I was, Remus, Nymphadora, Fred, Collin and all the others would still be alive. Calling myself lucky would be like denying what has happened, and I must never do that, _ he thought.

When he reached the great hall, he saw Ron, Hermione and a few others were still there.  
"Ron, Hermione, Shacklebolt wants to speak to you. He's in the transfiguration classroom. You better get over there quickly."  
"What's it about?"  
"You'll see."  
With a last questioning look at Harry, Ron and Hermione stood up and walked up the stairs.

A few minutes later, Ron ran into the great hall.  
"HARRY! HARRY! HE OFFERED US A JOB AS AURORS! WE CAN BECOME AURORS!"  
Harry hadn't seen Ron this happy in a very long time. The last few days, Ron had constantly had a sad and hurt look on his face, and it had been hard for Harry to look at him like that. But now, none of that could be seen for a moment, and Harry was glad he could see his friend like this again. Harry smiled at him.  
"I know. And you are going to accept it, I suppose?"  
"Yeah, I think so. I mean, I haven't really thought about it yet, but it's just nice to realise that I have options. That even though I'm missing a part of my education, there is still something I can do. What about you?"  
"I don't know. I don't think there is a profession better suited for me than to catch deatheaters. I want to finish the job, you know? But on the other hand… I got to solve my own problems first. What about you, Hermione?"  
"I don't think I'm going to be an auror. It's not really something for me. I do appreciate the offer though, but I think I'm going to finish Hogwarts first."  
"I hadn't expected anything else from you, Hermione", Harry smiled.

It felt good to be back at the Burrow, although it would never be like before. All the Weasley children were supposed to be there, but of course there was one missing. It was weird to be in the Burrow, but without the usual laughter, without constantly having to be afraid of Fred and George's pranks, without all the noises and the usual fuss. George had gone straight up to Percy's room, where he would now be staying. No one dared to enter Fred and George's room. For the rest of the day, he hadn't spoken to anyone. Ginny had brought dinner to his room, but he barely ate anything from it. Directly after dinner, Harry had muttered something about being tired and had gone up to Ron's room. They wouldn't be staying in Charlie's after all. He got into the camp bed that had been set up for him, and fell asleep. After a little more than an hour, however, he woke up from a nightmare. After that, he lay awake for a few hours, until Ron came into the room and got into bed. Harry pretended to be asleep, and after a few more minutes, he actually fell asleep. A little after midnight he woke up again, covered in goosebumps and sweat.  
"Harry, are you alright?", Ron whispered sleepily. He must have screamed in his dream and woken up Ron with it.  
"Yeah, just another nightmare. You can go back to sleep, I'm fine."  
Ron scoffed, as if he didn't believe for a second that Harry was fine, but he was too tired to protest and fell asleep again. Harry couldn't get to sleep again, too afraid that the horrible pictures would come to him again in yet another nightmare, and stayed awake. After some time he decided that he wanted to get a glass of water, and snuck out of bed and into the kitchen. When he entered the kitchen, he froze. With her back towards him, Molly was sitting at the kitchen table. Her shoulders shook with soundless sobs. Harry felt like an intruder, walking in on her in a very personal moment, and decided to get back to bed again. But it was no use, she had already heard him. She turned around and looked at him with a tear stained face and red eyes.  
"Harry! Come sit down please, dear. Can I grab you something? Anything to eat? Drink perhaps?" she said, as she stood up.  
"Uh, I was just planning to go back to bed. Couldn't really sleep so…"  
"Come here, Harry, sit down.  
Harry did as he was told, and sat at the opposite side of her, uncomfortably at the edge of his seat. A bottle of fire whiskey stood on the table, next to a half-full glass. Molly flicked with her wand and a glass set itself in front of Harry, before the bottle of whiskey poured itself into the glass. He took a careful sip, but quickly put down the glass again. He didn't like this stuff.  
"Thank you, Harry", Molly whispered after a while.  
"For what?" He asked, ruder than he had intended to.  
"Thank you for ending it. Thank you for everything you did."  
Harry didn't reply. She wouldn't understand him anyway, just like Ginny didn't understand it. He simply fulfilled the task the prophecy forced him to do. But he didn't do it good enough. It took too long and too many life's to fulfil his task.  
"I know you don't feel proud or happy about it now, but I hope that someday you can. You deserve it. And… Your parents would be so proud of you. "  
Harry didn't feel like talking, and definitely not about his parents, but for some reason he stayed. After a while he replied.  
"I'm sorry about Fred."  
And with that, he stood up and left for bed.

The next morning, Hermione and Ron sat down with him at breakfast. Hermione looked at him.  
"Harry, Ron and I are going to Australia to find my parents. We… uh…"  
"You want to go with the two of you but you're afraid I'll get angry with you."  
"Well… Yeah, basically…"  
"We don't want to exclude you, mate, so please don't feel offended. It's not you, we just want to spend some time together, to… you know, figure out _us_…"  
"Don't worry about it, I don't mind", he lied. He did mind. Everything they had done they had done with the three of them, and now he was becoming a third wheel. Of course he had known for a much longer time that this would happen, he had seen them fall in love with each other since their fourth year. He understood and respected very well why they wanted to spend time together. He wanted the same with Ginny. However, that didn't make it much easier. So instead of throwing a tantrum he decided to be happy for them and act like he didn't care. He knew that it wouldn't stop him from being good, perhaps even more than good, with either of them.  
"Thanks, Harry, that means a lot to me, to us", Hermione replied, she looked relieved. "We thought that maybe you and Ginny, and perhaps also Neville and Luna, could join us after a few weeks. We could make it an ordinary vacation and just have fun hanging out and swimming and such. I promise you we won't go camping", she smiled.  
Harry returned the smile. "I don't know, I'll think about it. I'm not really in the mood of having fun yet. When are you guys going?"  
"As soon as possible. We'll wait until after the, you know… funeral…"  
"We'll go after the funerals."  
Harry nodded, stood up and walked outside, into the early summer weather.

For the rest of the day, Harry had lingered in and around the house, not feeling like doing anything. He thought of little Teddy, now an orphan, like him. He wanted to meet the child, but it felt too hard to do so. Would he see Remus or Nymphadora in the baby? Would he be able to look at the child without crumbling under grief and guilt's pressure? He hoped that Mrs. Tonks would be okay with taking care of the baby, because how was he supposed to take care of another human being if he couldn't even keep himself together? The daily prophet had come that morning. The entire front page had been devoted to him. It had been filled with speculations about his doings in the past ten months, about how he had defeated Voldemort, about his unwillingness to speak to any press, about aspects of his personal life. Harry feared that they would soon go over to harassing anyone that had ever met him to ask them for an extensive interview. After he had read it he went out with Ginny again, and they sat at the small stream in the Weasley's backyard together. She had questions, and he answered them. He didn't mind, not Ginny. She was careful not to ask the wrong things, but she deserved to know. _One day, she'll know all the details about my story. I want her to. _He kissed her.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were discussing Fred's funeral in the kitchen, together Bill and Charlie. They wanted George to have some invoice in it, but George didn't want to come out of his room. He promised that he would pick a quote for the headstone, and that was all he managed. The funeral was set in seven days.

**Thank you again for reading! I think the ending is a bit odd, but okay. The next chapter will be up asap. **


	4. Kingsley Shacklebolt

**Good day my fellow Harry Potter lovers! Here is yet again another chapter on the adventures of our fictional best friends. Really, sometimes I feel like I spend more time living in the fictional world of Harry Potter then in real life. But okay, I like the fictional world better so I don't mind. My mom does. She thinks I'm becoming obsessed, and I think she's right. I don't own any of the character, they are all J. K. Rowling's**

The day after was the day of Harry's appointment with Kingsley. After another bad night he went downstairs to have breakfast. His appetite seemed to be low, lately. Before they had stayed at Shell cottage, every day was another struggle to find enough food. At Shell cottage, it had been weird to have adequate amounts of food and three large meals a day. But he hadn't eaten much back then either. Now that it was all over, he still didn't eat much. _It was over. _Every morning, he still had to remind himself of the fact that it _was _over. The war was over and the killing was over. But the struggle, the fear and the pain… They weren't .

At twelve o'clock Harry left the Burrow and aparated into the narrow alley where the trio had captured two ministry workers months before. He turned into the main road and walked towards the main entrance. This was the first time he had been in public since the battle, and because he was so close the entrance of the ministry of magic, many wizards and witches spotted him and stared at him. Harry held his head low and quickly continued walking in the hope that people would leave him alone. But of course, they didn't. The first to come up to him was an elderly man.

"Excuse me, you are Harry Potter, right?"

"No", he replied without looking at the man, as he paced past all the people staring at him, towards the entrance.

"Yes you are! You're Harry Potter!" the man was now speeding up as well. Harry didn't reply to him and just wished he had brought his invisibility cloak. At the sound of his name, even more people turned around to look at him in amazement.

"It's Harry Potter, there!"

"The boy-who-lived, he's here, I can see him!"

"I want to talk to him"

"Do you think he'll be willing to go out with me some time?"

People started coming up to him and he had to push his way through the forming crowd. Why didn't they understand that he didn't want to talk to any of them? Luckily he had finally reached the entrance of the ministry and went in. However, many people just followed him inside, causing people who were already inside to turn their heads towards the suddenly appearing crowd, and notice Harry as well. Harry didn't listen to what any of them tried to say to him, and became increasingly annoyed and angry at them. He reached the reception and spoke to the man sitting behind the counter.

"Hello sir, I have an appointment with the minister. He's expecting me."

The man looked up and when he saw Harry his jaw dropped.

"Mr. Potter! Yes of course! Uh, yes. Uhm… Here you go", and he clumsily handed Harry a badge. Harry put it in his pocket without looking at it and sped towards the lifts.

"I'm a huge fan of yours, Mr. Potter! I always supported you!", the reception man called after him.

Harry got into the lift and reached Shacklebolt's floor. He got out and walked towards Shacklebolt's office. Luckily, none of the people from the crowd downstairs had followed him until here. He knocked on the door of Shacklebolt's office. The door swung open and Harry entered a wide office. Multiple portraits of former minister's of magic and other influential, important people were hanging on the walls. Harry spotted one of Dumbledore on the left wall. Kingsley was sitting behind his desk, busily writing something down.

"One moment, please… Yes… Aaaand… Done. Hello Mr. Potter, have a seat. You're a little early!", he said as he stood up and shook Harry's hand.

"Yeah, I meant to wait outside until it was time, but the crowds of '_fans'_ made me change my mind."

"I'm sorry about that. You'd think they would agree that _you_ deserve your peace and quiet now."

"I guess there is little to do about it"

Harry sat down and Shacklebolt offered him some tea. They exchanged some formalities. Harry found Kingsley to be a very nice man to talk to. He had a calm aura, was very respectful and understood Harry very well. He was wise, and above all, a good man. He had shown that in his work for the order.

"So, Harry, let's start with your press-problem. Arthur told me that reporters have been camping outside of the Burrow's gates ever since the battle ended. Due to the security charms put up they can't enter, and only owls that deliver letters that have an address on them, rather than just a name, can deliver their messages. However, due to this the ministry has received piles of letters addressed to you, with the request of sending them through. People are trying anything to get in touch with you. Most of them are from people who just want to thank you for what you did, but we haven't read them, so we can't be sure what is on all of the letters. Would you accept to take them or should the ministry just throw them away?"

"I don't want them. You can do whatever you want with them, burn them or something."

Shacklebolt smiled.

"Will do. Next to that, I think it would be wise to send out a short statement to the press regarding your… _doings_ these past months and your defeat of Voldemort. Everyone is craving an explanation. I understand very well that you want to protect your privacy and don't want to mention the horcruxes, which I think is a excellent decision, but the public needs an explanation as well, even if it is as short as confirming that you killed Voldemort and had been working on his defeat these past ten months. I can help you with writing it."

"Thank you, Mr. Shacklebolt, but I think I will write it together with Ron and Hermione. I can send it to you after that, and you can tell us what you think of it."

"That will do too, I believe. And please just call me Kingsley, Harry. Then, there are going to be a lot of funerals this week. I have gotten many invitations and even more people have invited you to the funerals. Of course I understand if you don't want to go, I don't expect you to, but I can't decline for you without asking you. So what do you think?"

"I'm not going to any funerals but from the people I knew and cared for. I think I already did enough. I'm not very eager to see more loss and more destruction of life's and families."

"Good, I'll tell them that. Furthermore, the ministry is organising a memorial for the victims in two weeks. Would you be willing to say a few words or just be there?"

Harry was quiet for a while.

"I think I have to get myself together before I can play the hero of the public everyone likes to see me as."

"Right. I already thought so. Then, there is only one thing left to discuss. Becoming an auror. Have you made up your mind yet?"

"Yes. I would like to accept the job. But how will I learn about everything discussed in auror training? Do you really think I can do it without?"

"Yes I do. Currently, the auror department, and the entire ministry actually, finds itself in a state of chaos. Many people had been functioning under the imperius curse and many of the people working at the ministry were deatheaters or sympathisers of Voldemort, such as Mrs. Umbridge. We are very busy with finding these people and locking them up. However, the people who would normally do that, our aurors, are currently unorganised. Many aurors just continued working for the ministry after You-Know-Who had taken over, and by doing that obeyed You-Know-Whose orders. They practically worked for the dark side, just because they had sworn to themselves to always remain loyal to the ministry. We do however still need them, because we led great losses during the war and our auror department is already understaffed, but right now there is much more work for our aurors to do then before. If you add to that the fact that we don't even have a head-auror yet, the chaos is complete. Now Harry, I don't want you to feel like the only reason I am asking you is because we are in crisis. The main reason I offered this job to you is because I honestly think you have a great potential and it would be a shame if we would waste that, especially if this is what you want yourself."

"I had no idea that everything was _this_ chaotic!"

"No, but our entire community is, at the moment. We'll just have to work hard to get through this. Before the war, it was extremely hard to become an auror. No one has been accepted into auror training since 1993, and before that only very few. I was thinking… Well, I haven't discussed it with anyone yet, nor decided yet, but I think I am going to offer a place in auror training to everyone who has fought in the Battle of Hogwarts."

"That would be… Well, I think there are many Hogwarts students who would love to start a career as an auror but feel like they have no chance to do so. Loosening up the requirements might indeed be a good decision."

"Thank you for the support, Harry", Kingsley smiled. "The terms on which you would be accepted into auror training were very strict. You needed a lot of N.E.W.T.s and at least E's. I am aware of the fact that you never scored any N.E.W.T.s and didn't finish your seventh year. Therefore you might have indeed missed out on knowledge and theoretical skills other people would learn in that year. Next to that you will most likely be skipping three years of auror training. However, I still offered this to you because I know you can do it anyway. You have things more important than any N.E.W.T., you have experience and you have the personality. You have proven to be brave. You will take on any situation if you feel like it is the good thing to do and you stand up for what you believe in. You are just and principled, and I think that is exactly like the change I wish to see in the auror department. I want to see more critical thinking and justice, rather than solely knowledge and duelling skills. The auror department needs to be reformed so cases like Sirius' will not happen again. I think you have the potential to be a great auror, Harry. An auror like Nymphadora, sorry, Dora, Mad-eye and the Longbottom's."

Harry smiled. The ministry had let him down many times, they had caused too much injustice and suffering where it could have been prevented. But hearing Kingsley talk like this made Harry quickly realise that this would change. Kingsley would reform the ministry for the better, and with it the British wizarding community.

"You forgot to include yourself in that list.", Harry grinned.

Kingsley laughed. "I suggest that you start as an auror, but each working day will be two hours shorter so you can use those two hours to study and practice the material from auror training. You can start as soon as you wish to."

"Could I start next week?"

Kingsley looked a bit taken aback by this. "So soon? Have you had enough rest by then? I mean, it's your choice, but…"

"Yes. I don't want to sit around, doing nothing. I want to help finish it." _And I don't want to be left alone with my thoughts the whole day_, he added in his mind.

When Harry left Kingsley's office, he felt better than he had felt in a very long time. However, soon the depressed and numb feeling that had been haunting him those past days fell over him again. He worked his way through the crowds again, and apparently someone had messaged the press because there were a few reporters as well. Harry tried to ignore them and kept on walking, but reporters seemed to have learned not to let go of a story, and kept following him and getting in his way.

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter! Could you tell us about your defeat of The Darkest and possibly Most Powerful Wizard of our time?"

"Potter, sources have told us that you have defeated You-Know-Who with a wand more powerful than any other. What can you tell us about this?"

"Potter!"

"Harry Potter"

"I work for the daily prophet!"

Harry sped out and apparated back to the Burrow as soon as he could. His good mood was completely gone.

Ginny was sitting at the stream in the garden again, and Harry headed over to her. She was sitting with her back towards him and looked completely lost in thoughts, so she didn't notice him coming. He bend down and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She let out a small screech and quickly turned around in his arms.

"You, prat!"

"Sorry!", he grinned at her. He couldn't help it, he was just too happy with her.

"You look happy! How was it?"

His smile dropped and he sighed. "Horrible." He sat down next to her.

"What? How come? What did you and Kingsley discuss?" Ginny looked worried.

"No, it wasn't Kingsley. The appointment was excellent. It's just… It was the first time back in public. First time since… Since Bill's wedding I guess. And I wasn't even myself back then… The crowds, they just… No consideration, they don't care about me at all! They pretend to love me, and harass me! But it's not me they love, it's the Boy-Who-Lived, they adore. It is The Chosen One they are a fan of. They don't know me, they don't know Harry Potter, but they think they do and I hate it! I hate the press and their ridiculous questions!" Harry was yelling by now.

Ginny kept quiet for a while before she replied.

"I know you. I know Harry Potter and I see him, right next to me. He is in pain, but he is not alone, even though he often thinks so. I am here for him and I will guide him through the crowds whenever he needs it. I'll hex every annoying reporter for him with my excellent Bat-Bogey hex." Her voice was soft and gentle, but yet so powerful and Harry could feel how much she mean it.

"Harry Potter thanks you. He would very much enjoy a demonstration of your excellent hex on one, or perhaps ten reporters. And on the many girls that asked me on a date today. Because I swear, there were really about 6 girls that asked me on a date today! It's ridiculous!" Even though it was incredibly annoying, he had to admit that it was quite funny as well.

Ginny laughed as well. They sat back on the grass, in the sun next to the stream and in each other's arms.

"But tell me about the appointment. How did it go?"

"It was good. I'm starting as an auror next week."

"What?!" Ginny shoot up. "Already?"

"Yeah. He told me I could start as soon as I wanted, and I don't have much else to do so…"

He looked at Ginny, and saw that she was angry.

"Bloody hell, Harry, you have _just_ gotten back. You were gone for _ten months_ under extremely stressful circumstances, you get back, rest for barely two weeks and then just _leave _again?!"

"I'm not leaving! I'll still see you after work, every day, I promise! I just can't sit around all day knowing that those _bastards_ are still running around somewhere, unpunished."

Ginny looked at him with a calculating look on her face.

"That's not the only reason, is it?"

Harry looked down at the grass.

"I… No, it's not. I want to have something to do. Every second that I'm not busy doing something or talking to someone I have flashbacks and thoughts that I don't want to be confronted with. Really, it's not at all neat. I want something to distract myself with."

Ginny sighed, laid back on the grass and rubbed her hands over her face.

"Oh Harry…"

"I won't leave you again." He said, as he laid next to her. She moved closer to him and put her head on his shoulder.

"I'm not the only one you should care for. You have to take good care of yourself".

"Hmm…"

It was the day after Harry's appointment with Kingsley and they were having dinner. Molly appeared to use the same tactic as Harry: as long as she kept busy, the loss of her son would not suffocate her. Therefore she had cooked excessively again. George had barely shown his face ever since they were back at the Burrow. Everyone was worried about him. Arthur had dark circles under his eyes and his eyes looked dull. Ron and Hermione were mostly working on tracking down Hermione's parents, but they couldn't do much until they were actually there, in Australia. After dinner, Harry stacked plates to take to the kitchen, but Molly stopped him.

"Please, dear, I'll do it. You guys go ahead to the living room or something. I'll bring you tea in a minute."

Harry let her, because he knew how it would help her to have something to do. They sat down in the living room indeed. They talked about the ministry and how much it would change under Kingsley.

"Kingsley is a very good man, the ministry is currently in chaos but you can see he is working very hard to get things back to normal, better than it was before", Arthur stated.

"They couldn't have chosen anyone better to become minister of magic!", Hermione added.

"They should reward him with the Order of Merlin First Class"

"I don't think he'll do that, even if he thinks he deserves it. He wants to be better than his predecessors and he doesn't want to become a hypocrite like Fudge and reward it to himself. I think he thinks that might give off the wrong signal, it's just not right to do so. And I think he's right", that was Bill.

"Fudge actually gave _himself_ the Order of Merlin? _First Class?_" Ron was shocked.

"He did, I know, it's horrible. He did nothing to deserve such a thing."

"Do you think they can still take it away from him?"

"Well, they were considering taking away Dumbledore's, that year the ministry still denied You-Know-Whose return, so I'm sure they can and I hope they will."

That night, Harry couldn't sleep again. Or actually, he could, he was too tired to stay awake, but he tried his best not to fall asleep. Suddenly, he heard a soft knock on the door. Ron moaned softly. Harry stood up and opened the door. Hermione was standing there.

"Ginny, she's had a nightmare again, and she's really, very much upset. She asked me if I could send you downstairs, Harry. I think she wants to make sure you're OK. Must've had a nightmare about you again."

"Uh, Okay… But…"

"I'll stay here, I'll take your bed or something. You can sleep in my bed for tonight."

Harry smiled. "Alright, good night."

Carefully, so he wouldn't wake anyone up, he sneaked down the stairs until he stood in front of Ginny's room. He knocked softly.

"Come in"

"Hi Gins… Hermione sent me. Are you alright?"

Ginny smiled softly when he came in. Harry closed the door behind him. He could see that she had cried.

"Now that I see you I'm better again."

Harry sat down on the edge of her bed and gently stroked her hair.

"Nightmares again?"

"Yeah. They never really left me ever since my first year and that chamber… They did get less though, until the Carrow's showed up. And now I'm having nightmares about the chamber, the battle at the ministry, Hogwarts last year and just the war… And the battle of course…"

"I understand. I have them too. A lot. Sometimes I try to stay awake at night, just so I won't have to see those pictures again in my dreams. Or worse, dream Voldemort's dreams again. I know it won't happen again, but… It just feels that way. I always sleep with my wand under my pillow."

"I do that too. I have a lot of nightmares about you. You getting killed or captured, you getting tortured, you not waking up after the forbidden forest…"

"But I'm here now, I'm safe. And so are you", he kissed her cheek. "Hermione is staying with Ron, so I'll be staying here, if that's okay with you."

Ginny smiled. "Of course."

Harry stepped into Hermione's bed and quickly fell asleep. But soon came the nightmares again. He was running down the halls of Hogwarts with Ginny. Suddenly they found themselves in the middle of a group of deatheaters. On the other side of the hallway he saw Remus, Dora and Sirius. He begged them for help but they turned away and accused him of their deaths. Accused him of orphaning Teddy. The deatheaters lauged and turned to Ginny, ready to strike.

Suddenly Harry found himself next to his bed, wand in his outstretched hand and breathing heavily.

"Harry?"

He looked around the room and realised where he was. He was in Ginny's room. It had just been another nightmare. All was fine. He looked at Ginny and saw that she was unharmed. She looked at him worriedly.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Just another one."

Ginny lifted the corner of the blankets and looked at him.

"Will you come lie with me?"

Harry smiled at her and stepped into her bed. For the rest of the night he held her tightly while they slept without having any more nightmares.

**That was it for now. Chapter 5 is coming up, so please subscribe and even more importantly, review so each chapter can become better then the previous one. Thank you for reading!**


	5. Gringotts

**Hey there! Another chapter is up! sorry for it to take longer than the other one's to publish, but here it is. Thanks for reading, I dont own Harry Potter and please review, especially if it is with tips and feedback, but I'm happy with any review. So, here goes...**

He woke up to a shout. Immediately he shot up straight in bed and held his wand tightly in his hand. Bewildered he looked around and instantly remembered sleeping in Ginny's bed that night. It was only then that he noticed Molly standing in the doorway. She looked furiously from Ginny, who had sat up as well, to Harry. He startled. He had never seen her give him this look. Her anger was always directed at one of her own children, not at Harry. Immediately he felt an immense guilt wash over him, just for making her angry, before even realising what had caused her anger.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, get out of that bed RIGHT NOW!", she shouted. "And you too, Harry James Potter! I cannot believe this. After everything… And you told us _nothing!_ _Get out I said!_"

Harry and Ginny, both barely having the time to wake up and understand what was happening quickly crawled out of bed.

"Mom, come on, nothing happened, okay?! I, we, we just –"

"Save me your excuses young lady! You and I are going to have a good talk about this! Breakfast, downstairs, now."

With that she turned around and stomped out of the room and off the stairs. Harry turned around to face Ginny and saw that familiar determined and angry look on her face that occurred whenever she was about to stand up to someone.

"Ginny, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have –"

"Oh shut up, we did nothing wrong. She can't be angry with us for _sleeping_! And I'm going to tell her just that. Even if we _did_ anything 'inappropriate', then what? I'm not a child anymore, I can decide for myself. _When will she finally realise that!" _That last sentence what shouted out loud, clearly with the intention of her mother overhearing it. "Get dressed. I'll see you downstairs."

But when he came downstairs he did not find Ginny there. Instead there were four Weasley brothers staring up at him in either disgust, anger or awkwardness. Arthur, Molly and Ginny were nowhere to be seen, although it wasn't long before Harry heard shouting coming from the living room and he realised they were 'having a good talk', like Molly had demanded. Harry felt nothing for sitting down between Ginny's brothers at the moment, but he didn't know what else to do and he was hungry, so he sat down anyways. George wasn't there again. He sat next to Hermione, who seemed to be the only one not immensely awkward with him at the moment and she gave him a reassuring smile. After a few moments, when Bill, Charlie, Fleur and Percy were engaged in what sounded like a forced conversation aimed at breaking the awkward tension hanging in the kitchen, Ron leant towards Harry and whispered:

"Please tell me it's true what Ginny's been saying, please tell me nothing happened indeed."

"Come on, Ron, of course nothing happened! You didn't seriously consider that, did you?", Harry hissed.

He was annoyed at them. For the first time in many months, both of them had had a decent night of sleep, for they had found comfort in each other, and now they all reacted like this.

"Besides, I bet you and Hermione didn't innocently lie in two separate beds either, did you? You might get to me if I ever dare hurt Ginny, but I reckon I'll do the same for Hermione 'cause she's like a sister to me".

With that he stood up and walked outside.

After half an hour Ron sat down next to him in the garden.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said, okay? It's just… I think I need some more time getting used to this again. Of course I trust you, I just wanted to get rid of all doubts. And Hermione heard what you said. She's both offended and flattered. Says she can take care of herself but she feels the same way 'bout you. As a brother, that is…"

"Thanks, mate. Guess I overreacted a bit, sorry about that."

"Mom and Ginny are still arguing. It's not only about tonight anymore. It's about the usual now too. Mom being overly protective and Ginny being able to stand up for herself and such…"

It was only after a few minutes that Harry spoke again.

"How are you, Ron?"

"What'd you mean?"

"You know what I mean. I know it sounds like a shitty question, and it probably is, but how are you?"

Ron did not reply. Instead he looked ahead of him, at nothing in particular, and Harry could clearly see how tired he actually was. How much the loss of his brother was actually costing him. How much the events of the past months had actually damaged him.

"I don't get it. The war is over, everything should be happy and festive, but instead I don't think I've ever been worse. Any minute, I expect Fred to walk through the gates, or apparate into my room and scare me with one of his annoying jokes but to think that that'll never happen again… It's just… And now I'm slowly losing two other brothers as well. One is not coming out of his room anymore and another is beating himself up like we all knew he would."

"You're not losing me, Ron. I just need some time, okay?"

"Hm, yeah, sure…"

"Harry, can you come in here please?", Molly called him.

He entered the living room and saw Molly and Arthur sitting uncomfortably on the couch, while Ginny sat in an armchair on the other side of the room with her arms crossed, face red stained and a cross, angry look on her face. For a moment Harry stood in the doorway, not knowing if he should pick a side, before joining Ginny in the chair next to her. Ginny looked at him with a faint smile on her face for this gesture, before drawing up her battle composure again.

"Harry, why hadn't you told us anything about your relationship?"

"I felt like it was Ginny's choice to do so, and that you would find out about us soon enough. It was only a few weeks before summer after all. We didn't know things would go the way they did."

"But even then you both of you hadn't told us anything! Didn't you think we would have been interested in knowing?

"Well, we had broken up by the time, and there were better things to talk about, so…"

Molly rubbed a hand over her face, not knowing what to say but clearly not approving of how things had gone.

"Look, I'm sorry about how things went, and I'm sorry for how you found us this morning, but I want to be honest with you, I don't regret it. It gave me great comfort to sleep with Ginny by my side and I love her."

"You love her", Molly whispered.

"I love her"

"Molly, dear, I think they are right. They make each other happy and help each other get through this. I think we should just let them be."

Molly sighed, and with a slightly choked voice she whispered, "You've just grown up so fast, Ginny. And you too, Harry. One moment you were two little eleven year olds, and a second later you are all grown up. I just want to protect you. It's like I let go of you for one moment and when I look back there is no longer the innocent children but damaged soldiers that are my children, fighting a war. I wish I could have shielded you from that." A tear started rolling down her cheek. "Now get out of here."

Once outside Ginny grabbed Harry in a tight hug and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, you managed to persuade her! _Please_ teach me that, I've never been able to do that!"

Harry chuckled. "I think you too are too much alike. Same attitude, one as stubborn as the other… Won't really help with coming to agreements."

"Hmm… Hey, I've been thinking, we ought to go to Diagon Alley before you get to work. I need to get some stuff and I think you do too."

"Yeah, kinda. I want to get a new broom, I could really do with some flying right now. And some new robes wouldn't be too bad either." He answered, but his voice was hesitant.

"You don't want to go, do you? You don't want to face people."

"Yeah. I saw at the ministry what happens if I show my face to people. I don't want them summoning the press as well. The fact that they've been camping outside your gates now is enough already. I've got nothing to tell them."

"I know, I know. Why don't you bring your cloak? Then we can ask Ron and Hermione to join us. We can go tomorrow if you want."

"Like Ron and Hermione won't extract any attention!" he snorted. "But I guess… Well, there is not really another option, I have to have the books for auror training before I start work."

They asked Ron and Hermione and decided to ask Neville and Luna to join them too. That afternoon Harry, Ron and Hermione sat down together to write the statement they were going to give the press.

"I think we ought to start with saying we can't tell them what exactly we've been doing because we don't want to inspire any young, dark wizards or witches.", Hermione started.

"Or that might make just them more curious. I think it's better to say something along the lines of 'These past nine months we have been resisting against Voldemort. We have been completing Dumbledore's mission while at the same time trying to survive, and eventually that mission has brought us to Hogwarts, which resulted in the battle.'", Ron brought in.

"We weren't completing Dumbledore's mission. I don't want to be seen as his puppet anymore, because I am not. I am my own person and I can fight for my own mission and causes.", Harry stated, angrier than he had intended to.

"I understand that, Harry, but I do think we should at least mention Dumbledore. After all, he was the one that figured out about the Horcruxes and stuff…", Hermione contradicted.

For a few hours they went back and forth like this, until they finally came up with a statement.

"I do think you should be the one to read it out loud, Harry. I highly doubt if any of the press will be satisfied with this statement, they will definitely try to get more information out of you. But if Ron or I read this, they will most definitely not accept it. They want to hear from you." Hermione told him when they had finally finished the statement.

"Yeah. Okay. I'll do it then. What d'you reckon I should do? Just walk out of the gate? I bet there are enough reporters waiting to catch a glimpse of me…"

"No, I don't think that is wise", Hermione argued. "Then you've confirmed where you are staying. I think it's better to do it just before we leave, tomorrow in Diagon alley.

"Will do."

At dinner that evening, Arthur looked spoke to them.

"I heard that you are planning to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow."

"Yeah, we all need some new stuff, and it'll be a good distraction", Ginny answered her dad before Harry could say anything.

"Hmm… Just be careful please…? I could ask Kingsley for one or two aurors to join you? Or I could come myself? It's just not safe yet. There are still many deatheaters on the loose, and… Well, no need to secretive about it, I bet there are quite a few who would love to avenge their master. After all, you took everything from them by ending You-Know-Who." Arthur spoke to Harry.

This time it was Ron who replied: "No thanks, dad. We'll manage on our own. I promise we'll be careful. Besides, Harry is officially an auror now, so we already have one."

Harry had to agree with Ron. With aurors walking around them they wouldn't exactly be free to do what they wanted and it would continue the fearful atmosphere of the war. In how much danger could they actually be, in a full shopping street?

Both Arthur and Molly looked like they thoroughly disagreed with this, but one quick look at the four young adults in front of them told them that they wouldn't be able to persuade them and they just sighed.

That night, Harry and Ginny slept together again. When one of them would wake up from a nightmare, or suddenly stand beside the bed, wand at the ready, the other was there for him or her. They talked and hugged and whispered reassuring words.

"I'm here Gin, it's alright."

"Harry, no one is here, we are safe."

"I love you"

"I love you"

The next morning, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry stood in front of the gate, ready to go out. Because the Burrow wasn't attached to the floo network anymore, to prevent nosy reporters sneaking in, and anti-apparation charms had been put up, they would have to go through the sea of reporters before reaching Neville and Luna and apparating to Diagon Alley. Harry let the invisibility cloak slip over his head, the others would walk around him to make sure no one noticed him being invisible by accidentally bumping into him or so. He could notice that the others weren't too happy with him being invisible, they preferred talking to someone who was actually there. They didn't say anything about it, however, to respect his wish.

"Ready?" Ron asked, with his hand on the gate.

"Yes, let's go."

As soon as they stepped out of the gate, the reporters could hear and see them and they all sped towards them.

"Weasley, Weasley!"

"Is it true that you helped the Chosen One defeat Voldemort?"

"Are you Hermini Granger?"

"Do you know where Mr. Potter currently resides?"

"Is Potter here at the moment?"

"What can you tell us about the battle of Hogwarts?"

And so on and so on. It must have been around fifteen reporters, all shouting question after question at them. Ron and Hermione stood firmly on either side of Harry, while Ginny stood in front of him, trying to break their way through the closely gathered press who kept pushing back at them. They ignored the questions shot at them, no matter how ridiculous they sounded.

"Is it true that Mr. Potter and his friends have hidden in a cottage on the Spanish coast before finally deciding to return to Britain a few days ago, where he ended He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at last?"

Except for this one.

"I beg your pardon?" Ginny turned around abruptly and stared at the reporter with a venomous glare. "A cottage on the Spanish coast? Couldn't think of anything more ridiculous?" The reporter's only luck was that Ginny was still underage so couldn't use magic yet.

"No Ginny leave it!", Hermione muttered sharply.

"No I won't." Ginny replied before turning back to the reporter. "If you know these people in even the slightest, you'd realise you owe them more than you can ever imagine. You'd know how abnormally stupid you are for saying this. You'd know what an _honour_ it actually is for you to even be close to them. Each of the three of them are at least ten times the wizards and witch you are, mister!"

The reporter, clearly not expecting a reaction like this, quickly hid his astonishment and stared down at her with an offended look on his face.

"I beg your pardon? And who are you to call me out like this? Have you ever seen me perform magic?"

But Ginny was now too angry to pay any more attention to him. She directed her fierce gaze at the entire crowd of reporters before sharply adding "All of you, get the hell out of here! There is no story to be found here, so you might as well leave our family alone, if you will! You weren't here during the war to report on Harry, Ron and Hermione, so there is no reason why you would do so now, is there? Get out! Sod off!"

Luckily, Hermione and Ron had grabbed her and they quickly sped off before Ginny could explode further. They would surely be reading about her tantrum in the morning paper. But however unwise it was, Harry was still grateful for Ginny's outburst. She was right. To Harry's relief they quickly spotted Luna and Neville who came walking towards them.

"We heard Ginny shout from there", Neville pointed a while behind them. "What happened?"

"Annoying, cowardice, lying reporters", Ginny grumbled in response.

"They can be annoying, can't they? Hope they clear out quickly." Luna nodded.

Harry had noticed it before, but it struck him once again. Luna's dreamily aura seemed to have been damaged during the war, and he could only hope it would repair itself. What more would he find broken and shattered in the coming days?

"Harry's under the cloak. Lets get out of here, before they catch up." Hermione mentioned while gesturing with her head at the reporters.

Once they had gotten into Diagon Alley they were shocked once again. Although the shopping street looked a little better than during the war, a few shops had opened up again, the results were still so visible that had they not known better, they would have thought the war was still raging. The most visible difference with before the war was Gringotts bank. The once so majestic building was in ruins. The roof was nothing more than shatters, parts of the walls were smashed and everything was damaged.

"Well, should you have no other career options left, you three could always become smashers. You did a… good job." Ginny smirked.

"Shut up, Gin. I'm glad I already asked Kreacher to withdraw some galleons for me, I'm not sure if the goblins would've let me in."

They quickly got to shopping. It was quite busy in the alley, surely people were collecting the long craved items they didn't dare to buy during the war. Hermione, well-prepared as always, had brought her beaded bag to put all of their shopping's in. They started off at Madam Malekin's for robes, after which Harry bought books for auror training and a few of the Hogwarts seventh year books at Flourish and Botts, and a new owl, which was not nearly as beautiful as Hedwig was, but would do for the time being. Luna looked at the dark brown owl once, and she quickly decided it should be named Fawkes, as an indirect reference to the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore. At the sound of his new name, the owl gave a soft hoot, so there was no way out anymore. After a few more stores, there was only one shop left to visit. Quality Quidditch Supplies. Soon, Harry, Ginny and Ron stood gazing at a firebolt side by side. The store was very quiet so Harry had decided to drop his invisibility cloak.

"I'm buying it."

"What? You know how much that costs?" Hermione shrieked.

"You're forgetting this is Harry Potter, Hermione. Youngest seeker in a century, remember? Of course he is buying a broom!", Ron sighed

"But this is not just '_a'_ broom, I know that much!" Hermione replied.

Harry just grinned. "I'm buying it. I miss my old firebolt, this is the only suitable replacement.", and with that Harry walked towards the counter behind which a delighted owner was standing, and started counting down his money.

"I thank you greatly, Mr. Potter! It's an honour to serve you! I myself have been greatly against Voldemort's regime, of course. I supported you right from the moment you started saying _he_ was back. Thank you so much for ending it! I've been your greatest supporter."

Harry snorted and said "yeah, right", sarcastically under his breath so the shopkeeper couldn't hear.

With his new firebolt carefully wrapped inside Hermione's bag, they walked outside. There was one last thing they had to do. After a quick look around, they decided that the steps of Gringotts bank would be the best suitable place to do it. Ron, Hermione and Harry stood on the steps, in front of the yet imposing front doors of Gringotts, Harry in the middle. Harry dropped his cloak once again, and it immediately had the required effect. People started looking up at them, pointing. Surely, they all recognised the face they had seen hanging around on every street corner, all year long. Hermione cast a silent shield charm around them as people started gathering. Soon the press started to arrive too. Harry recognised the man that had gotten Ginny so angry that morning, along with a few others. When there were about twenty reporters around them, expectantly looking up at them, Harry cast a charm on his throat to make his voice louder. Not like Voldemort had done during the battle, but more like what was done at quidditch matches. He coughed and to his astonishment the gathered crowd grew silent at once. He recalled their statement from his memory.

_"__We would like to start with sending out our thoughts and condolences to the friends, family and loved ones of all the people that have left their life's in the past years as a result of the war. We confirm that I, Harry Potter, was the one to ultimately defeat Lord Voldemort and that the three of us have been working on enabling this defeat over the past nine months by continuing the mission that Albus Dumbledore has started, as well as trying to prevent capture and do our best to survive. To prevent rumours from rocketing sky high, we confirm that this mission included a break in at the Ministry of Magic on September second and a break in in Gringotts Wizarding bank, where we indeed escaped on the back of a dragon. Lastly, we wish to thank each and every one of you who had faith in us and our mission, and would like to send our gratitude towards everyone who has aided and supported us in any way, despite the risks that came with it. We would like ask everyone to respect our privacy and allow us to take the rest we so much long to at the moment. We will not be answering any press questions regarding the war and the defeat of Voldemort."_

Harry looked around and at the building that had once been the pride of Wizarding London, and added:

"At last I would like to apologise to the Goblins of Gringotts for the trouble we caused them. I would like to speak with you to see if I can be of any help with repairing the damage. We had not intended to shatter your great work like this, our sincere apologies."

When the crowd noticed that he was done talking, they started shouting questions at them and pushing up on them. Ron quickly found Luna, Neville and Ginny and the six of them disapparated back to the Burrow before the crowd would get out of control. There was nothing more to inform the public of, and nothing more for them to know.

**I do apologise for the odd ending. I promise that the next chapter will be better and more eventful. Not much happened in this one, sorry about that. Thanks for reading again!**


	6. Teddy Lupin

**Hiya! Here it is again. I don't own anything. Next chapter coming up soon. **

The next morning after breakfast, it was the tenth of May, four owls came flying into the Burrow. A big, brown owl dropped the newest edition of the Daily Prophet on Arthur's lap, the other three owls delivered a letter to Ron, Hermione and Harry. Curiously, Harry picked up the letter. He turned it around in his hands and saw the seal at the back.

"No way!", Ron exclaimed.

Hermione laughed. "Calm down Ron, read it first!"

"What is it?" Ginny asked curiously.

Harry opened his letter and quickly read through it. It said exactly what he had expected.

"It's from Chocolate Frogs. They want us on their cards." He answered Ginny.

"Ha!" Ron laughed loudly, and Harry couldn't help but smile at his friends behaviour. He was happier than Harry had seen him in ages. Genuinely happy.

"We're going to be on the Chocolate Frog cards!" he exclaimed. "Come on Harry, Hermione, be a bit happier please. This is amazing! Now little kids are going to collect _our_ faces! _I can collect my own face!"_ he laughed.

Everyone was looking at Ron now, laughing at his childlike enthusiasm for something so simple as a _chocolate frog_.

When Ron had calmed down a bit again, Arthur suddenly groaned softly. His attention had turned to the newspaper he was now reading, as his eyes darted over the lines. A worried look settled on his face.

"What's wrong, Arthur?" Molly asked worriedly.

"Wait a sec…" Arthur replied, while his eyes continued to scan the page. Everyone was now silently watching Arthur, until he had finished the front page and passed the paper down to Ginny.

"You might want to read it first…"

Ginny immediately started reading, and Harry, who sat next to her, read along. Instantly, he felt anger rising up in him.

_Ginevra Weasley: Desperate Fangirl or True Lover of the Boy-Who-Ended-It?  
__Written by your special reporter Rita Skeeters_

_For days now, faithful reporters have been fruitlessly waiting outside of the gates of the Weasley family in order to catch a glimpse of our hero, Harry Potter, who is assumed to be staying with the family. Yesterday, however, their long waiting was finally rewarded with something worth reporting about. Late in the morning, three people came out of the house. They were Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, the two best friends of Potter, who have accompanied him throughout the past year, and Ginevra Weasley. Naturally, our reporters had tons of questions to ask them, and did so. Unfortunately, Ginevra Weasley was the only one to respond to any of the questions, but did so in a rather rude manner. She screamed at the reporters who were shortly taken aback by her anger caused by a rather innocent question, but quickly recovered. Ms. Weasley first accused the reporter of asking ridiculous questions, but how do these hardworking reporters know what to ask if they aren't being told anything? She then proceeded to insult the hardworking and highly capable reporter of being a weak wizard and just before her two companions dragged her away, screamed in rude and inappropriate language at the reporters to go away and stop doing their jobs. _

_But this is where it gets really interesting. Several sources of mine have confirmed that at the end of his last term of school, our beloved Harry Potter has dated the rather hot-tempered and rude Ginevra Weasley that we have just gotten to know. Yes, I know, that is shocking. I know what you are thinking, maybe she has changed, war changes everyone after all. It is also known that the Weasley family has lost a son during the battle of Hogwarts. Maybe the loss of her beloved brother has driven her to throw fits like this in public? _

_Unfortunately, that is not the case. My sources have told me that Ms. Weasley has always been a bad-tempered hot-head and has caused a lot of trouble during her last six years at Hogwarts. She was, for example, part of an illegal student organisation in her fourth and sixth year. Perhaps this bad temper was taught to her from a very young age, as the only way to drown out het six older brothers and get some attention from her poor parents who have obviously never heard from anticonception spells. She is a member of the Gryffindor quidditch team, but I doubt if she has any academic skills or performs well in any of her classes. After all, her twin brothers are known not to have scored more than 3 OWLS each and no NEWTS at all. Maybe this academic incapability runs in the family? _

_During my investigation, however, I also stumbled across a very different side to this remarkable Ms. Weasley. Students from Hogwarts school in the same year or a few above Ms. Weasley and Mr. Potter remember very well a time that Ms. Weasley did not dare to come close to or talk to Potter. If she did, she was found blushing heavily and unable to form correct sentences. This sketches an image remarkably similar to an obsessed fangirl. Let us keep in mind that at the time, Mr. Potter already demanded a lot of attention and even as a younger student, was probably the most well-known and popular student of the entire school due to his background. _

_But that leaves us with an interesting question. Why would Mr. Potter, who is known for treating his fans irritably and with little respect, choose to date a girl with anger management problems who is possibly his most obsessed fan as well? He could get any other girl if he wanted. Was it perhaps a love potion? I don't think so. I think something much more serious has been going on. _

_I will be sharing my theory and more on Weasley's background in the Daily Prophet of the 17__th__ of March, so keep tuned!_

Next to the article was a picture of the two of them together, probably taken a while before they started dating during Harry's sixth year. Next to that there was also a picture on which Ginny could be seen yelling at reporters of the day before, and the last picture was one of Ginny as an eleven year old. While reading, Harry had felt Ginny tighten up besides him and when he was done reading and looked at her he saw that she was practically fuming. She threw the paper on the table, stood up while sending her chair flying through the kitchen and paced to the other end of the kitchen where she stared out of the window that gave her a perfect view on the reporters huddled in front of the gate. Her shoulders were trembling with anger, but Harry could also distinct something else. It was like she tried to prevent bursting out in anger to not prove Skeeter right.

"She shouldn't have mentioned my family, the foul, evil little cockroach that she is!"

Harry himself was trembling with anger too. How could the Daily Prophet allow Rita Skeeters to continue to write for their paper, even though she certainly wrote in favour of the dark side during the war? Now he was suddenly her "beloved Harry Potter", instead of an attention seeking, incapable little brat. What an hypocrite. Harry stood up and walked around. He needed something or someone to direct his anger at, to get his anger out of him. No one insults the people he loves without paying for it. He would find Skeeters and make sure she would _never_ write any more lies about anyone anymore. Maybe he could approach it in Hermione fashion, by putting her in a jar for as long as she needed to correct her behaviour.

As soon as Ginny had thrown the paper on the table, Bill had snatched it and he was now reading it together with Molly and Percy. Molly's eyes narrowed dangerously, and so did Bill's. No one was eating anymore. The people who hadn't read it yet just looked worriedly from one to the other.

Harry jumped up and started pacing the room.

"I'm off to Kingsley. It's time he found out about Skeeters Animagus form. We've got to do something about her. We don't want her eavesdropping on our private conversations as a beetle, do we? Do we even know if she can come in here in beetle form?"

He paced into the hall, roughly grabbed his jacket from the hook on the wall and walked back into the kitchen again. Ginny had turned to look at him and her eyes were burning.

"She shouldn't have mentioned my family", she hissed.

"Harry, wait, we've got to make a plan. If you report her to Shacklebolt you will lose our blackmailing material. We've got to think this through." Hermione told him.

She and Ron had just finished the article and Charlie and Fleur were now reading it.

"What? Skeeters is an animagus?" Arthur called out. "So that's how she receives all that private information about everyone?"

Hermione quickly explained to all the Weasleys how they had found out about that and how she had kept Skeeters captive after that. They all looked at her as if they had never seen her before, until Ginny cut in.

"What I find more important right now is who the hell talked to her about me. I mean, who are those 'sources' she keeps mentioning? Because if I find out, I'll hex them into _next year_."

When they had all cooled down a bit they proceeded to discuss what could be done.

"Whatever we do, we must prevent her from publishing the second part. How many more lies will be in there?"

Just then an owl flew in with a letter from the minister. He asked them if he could come over for dinner that evening and that he had read the foul article. The Weasleys and Kingsley had become good friends over the past year, due to their work for the Order. They accepted and decided to discuss further matters with Kingsley over dinner that evening.

After that they went out in the garden. Harry desperately wanted to try out his new broom and felt like it would be a good distraction for Ginny to go flying for a bit. They mounted their brooms and kicked off. Immediately, Harry felt the familiar rush of adrenaline flow through his body as he soared up and up and the wind blew through his hair. He looked sideways at Ginny and saw that flying did her good too. They proceeded to turn and loop through the air, each move riskier than before, completely forgetting everything around them but each other and their brooms. They smiled at each other, before making a spectacular dive at the same time until their toes scraped the ground and they shot up again.

When they came down again they were greeted by cheers and yells of the rest of the Weasley family. Bill, Fleur, Arthur, Molly, Percy, Charlie, Ron, Hermione and even George, who apparently had gotten out of his room at last, and Lee Jordan who must have arrived while they were up in the air, had watched them and looked them in astonishment.

Harry grinned at Ginny and they high-fived.

"Where did you learn _that_?" Charlie called out while he hugged Ginny tightly. "I've never seen you fly before. I heard you were a good flyer, but this beats everything!"

"I bet both of you could play professional, would you want to!" Bill exclaimed.

"I was offended when Wood told me he had found an eleven year old who had never flown before but was a better seeker than I was, but now I understand why." Charlie grinned at Harry. "You're brilliant, mate!"

George, who had smiled as vibrantly as his family put his hands in his pockets and started to retreat towards the house again.

"George, wait!" Ginny went after him.

"So, what d'ya think 'bout it?" She grinned at him.

"Great. You fly even better now than when I last saw you fly."

"Thanks. Hey, what do you think of little quidditch match? Three against three, with Lee doing the comments, for old times' sake?"

"I don't do old times anymore.", he muttered while looking at the ground. "Besides, I've never played quidditch without…"

"But it'll do you well. Besides, we need a sixth player."

"You don't understand! Every time I do something without him, he gets further away from me. Every time I replace him, a lose him a little more!", he cried.

Ginny hugged him and George cried, probably for the first time since the battle. He cried shamelessly and his brothers and parents joined Ginny and George and they all hugged George. Molly and Arthur cried as well. Percy looked uncomfortable, as if he was still feeling he didn't belong there. At last Charlie looked at George and said something only the two of them could hear. George nodded and grabbed his broom from the broom shed.

"I'm in" he sniffed.

Lee slapped him on the back.

"I'll do the comments then."

They played with one keeper and two chasers in each team. Ron, Harry and Bill against Charlie, Ginny and Bill. They played until they got tired and the rest of the day was spent with hanging around.

At dinner they had talked to Kingsley. They had decided to tell him about Skeeters animagus form, and he promised them to look into it, but there were just too many people that had to come to court that a crime as relatively unharmful as this would have to wait a long time before it could be dealt with. Kingsley did say he wouldn't tell anyone about it yet, which was a plus because if Skeeters didn't know they had busted her yet, they could still use it against her.

The next day arrived and today was the day of the Lupin's funeral. Remus and Tonks. Nymphadora. Dora. Whatever. Today would be hard. Naturally, Mrs. Tonks and Teddy would be there too. Harry would meet his godson for the first time, but he would have given anything for it to be under different circumstances. Not at his parents funeral. He had thought of Teddy over the past few days. Would he raise Teddy? He couldn't possibly leave it all to Andromeda Tonks, he had to be there for him. But how could he take care of a baby if he was still a mess himself? Maybe in the future? Would he able to look at the child without being flooded with feelings of guilt? At that moment he couldn't possibly understand how important and precious this child would become to him, and he to this child.

The Weasleys and co left the Burrow at eleven and they flooed to the house of Mrs. Tonks. They appeared in the living room of Tonks manor and Harry was immediately reminded of that fatal night when Voldemort and his death eaters had chased him and the six other Harry's until he and Hagrid had reached the safety of the Tonks manor. He tried to push the memories of that night from his mind. The night thirteen people risked their life's to get him to safety, the night one person actually died to save him. Mad-eye had been the fourth person to give his life for Harry's. If only he had been the last. And then people kept telling him not to feel guilty. Easy for them to say that.

"I'm glad you're here!" Mrs. Tonks came walking towards them.

"Of course we are", Molly said while giving Mrs. Tonks a hug.

There was some sort of mutual understanding between the two women, after all both of them had lost a child during the battle. Mrs. Tonks looked dreadful. She had bags under her eyes and it was clear that she had been crying a lot lately.

"Harry, you're here!"

"Yeah of course. Couldn't not come thank Uncle Moony one last time, could I?"

Mrs. Tonks looked at him puzzled. Apperently she hadn't heard much about Remus' marauder past.

"Uncle Moony?"

"That's what he should have been to me, had Voldemort not killed my parents. He and my dad were best friends at Hogwarts and after that, and Moony was his nickname… Look, I'm really sorry about your loss. I should have prevented it. Maybe I could have. But I am very grateful for their sacrifice. I will never be able to repay them, and I thought… Well, maybe… Maybe I could help you with Teddy. I mean, I don't know what you need, but –"

"Oh Harry, thank you so much, that would mean so much to me. He will wake up any moment now, then you can meet him. You're his godfather, after all. And please don't feel guilty about it, okay? They chose to do this, not only for you, but to create a better life for Teddy."

They walked through the living room into the garden where people were gathered. Several people looked up when they walked through the door and of course he was immediately recognised. On occasions like this he wished more than ever that people would leave him alone. Instead they started staring at him as soon as they spotted him. Some smiled at him or gave him a nod, others just looked at him like he was some sort of object to examine.

Harry recognised Hagrid, professor McGonagall, members of the Order and to his shock, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy stood at the very back of the garden, trying their best to disappear.

_Of course, _he thought. _Narcissa and Andromeda were sisters. It was only normal for them to be there, no matter how odd it might seem. _

"You are Harry Potter!"

Harry looked down and saw a small girl staring up at him with her eyes wide.

"Yeah, I guess I am. And who are you?" he smiled at her and knelt down so he was at the same level as her. For some reason he didn't mind this small child like he would have minded an adult asking the same question.

"Susannah, don't be rude. Now is not the best time, okay?"

"Don't worry, I don't mind", he told the woman who appeared to be little Susannah's mother.

"I'm Susannah"

"How old are you?"

"I'm five."

He talked a to the little girl for a while until it was time to walk to the cemetery. The group walked in silence, everyone was dressed in black. After a ten minute walk they reached a small cemetery on the edge of a forest. Harry had never been to a funeral, except that of Dumbledore, but he supposed that one didn't really count as an average funeral. Neither did Dobby's. They went into a hall at the edge of the cemetery. A small wizard with plucks of white hair led the service. He talked about bravery, about courage and about love, but it didn't mean much and it was clear he hadn't known the Lupin's.

After the service they went outside again and walked through the cemetery until they reached the back of it where one, wide grave had been dug. It was in a rather shady part of the cemetery, surrounded by flowers and trees. It looked peaceful and beautiful.

The coffins were lowered into the grave, and one by one people stepped forwards if they wished to say a few last words to Remus and Dora. Harry stood at the back of the crowd, listening to the words that were being said. At least these people had known them, but still, no words seemed fitting enough to describe the two wonderful and incredible people that they had just lost. A few friends of Dora spoke, Kingsley spoke in name of the Order, a family member of Dora, Hagrid, through a few giant sobs, McGonagall. More than ever before Harry realised how alone Remus had been. He had truly lost everyone and everything to Voldemort. His best friends murdered, another who followed Voldemort, no family of his side. So many people around him had died, he was one of the only survivors of the first Order of the Phoenix… He had only had the order and later Dora and Teddy.

Harry felt like he should say something as well. Thank them for their sacrifice, anything, but he couldn't find any words. It wasn't until people started going back to Tonks' house that Harry edged forwards. Andromeda Tonks stood in front of the grave, silent tears streaming down her face. Ginny lingered behind her family, watching him. He looked at her and motioned with his head for her to stand there with him.

Mrs. Tonks looked up at him. Teddy lay in her arms, awake but quiet.

"Harry. This is Teddy. He just woke up." She said with a tight throat. "Do you want to hold him?"

Harry, a little scared that he would drop the baby, nodded hesitantly. But as soon as she put the baby in his arms, it changed. _He_ changed. The baby gazed up at him with his grey eyes wide. While Harry was looking at the baby, Teddy's hair changed from brown to Harry's jet black hair colour.

_I'm going to take care of this child. _He thought. _I'm going to protect you from this world, I'm going to make sure your life is going to be perfect, because you deserve that, little boy. You will not grow up like I did, you will not suffer in a war like your parents did. You are going to have a good life, I'll make sure of that._

He turned towards the fresh grave. Ginny stood next to him and put an arm around his waist.

"Remus, Dora… I just want to thank you. Thank you for everything you did for me, for the Order… Remus, thank you for being such a loyal friend to me. I always knew I could count on your help if I needed it. I hope you have finally found peace. That you are free from your burdens. That you can be with your friends again, because Merlin knows you deserve that. I promise to take care of your son. I promise to keep him safe. It's the least I can do to repay you."

His voice was soft but certain. Then the three of them turned around and walked after the rest of the people. His heart ached and his throat was tick and tight with tears, but he refused to give in to his grief and didn't allow any tear to escape. He cradled Teddy in his arms and hoped with everything he was that he would grow up safely and happy.


	7. The cemetery

**Hey! Chapter 7 is officially up. I don't own anything. Just so you know, it might take a little longer for the next chapter to upload, because I think I am going to write the ending first. Not because I don't know how to continue, because I have already thought out the rest of the story, but because I feel more like writing that first. I will then upload that as a seperate story, until this story reaches that point too, and then I'll merge them. Thanks for reading!**

The day of Fred's funeral arrived. It would be at three 'o clock, but before that Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were going to attend another funeral: Colin's. All the residents of the Burrow were up way too early that morning, and judging by the bags under their eyes, none of them had slept that night.

Colin's funeral would also be attended by many muggle relatives and old schoolfriends of his primary school, so Dennis and his parents had decided that after all the muggles had gone home, there would be a chance for all the wizards and witches to speech, talk about his bravery and commemorate the Colin they had known.

In his letter, Dennis had explained the cover story to them. They had decided they wanted the muggle family, friends and acquaintances to know about Colin's bravery, so they had told everyone he had died in a terrorist attack while he tried to protect others. They had even faked a newspaper article about it.

Neville and Luna arrived at the Burrow at ten thirty. Neville was wearing a formal, black muggle suit, just like Harry and Ron were wearing. Harry had been a bit worried of the choice of clothing Luna would go for, especially since they had to appear as 'normal' as possible, but she had gone for a relatively normal clothing choice. She was wearing a green with purple, somewhat flamboyant, dress.

Harry grabbed Ginny tightly around her waist and the six of them apparated into the back garden of the Creevey family. A lot of their Hogwarts peers were already there. As soon as they apparated in the middle of the garden, a young man sped towards them. It wasn't until Harry threw a closer look at him that he realised that it was actually Dennis. He looked older.

"You made it! It's good you're here. All the muggles will arrive in fifteen minutes, so please no magic when they do." Dennis tried a brave, tired smile.

Ginny, Neville and Luna quickly greeted the younger boy. They had worked closely together, that year, in the DA.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, it's good to see you again. And I just wanted to say that you did an amazing job this year. You really gave us hope. As long as you were alive, we had the courage to go on…"

It was Hermione who answered for them. "Oh Dennis, you were so brave this year! We've heard stories and we are so sorry for your loss. I truly wish we could have prevented it. Your brother was such an amazing person and without people like the two of you this war would have cost so many more life's even."

Dennis nodded with tears in his eyes and then turned to Harry.

"Harry, my parents would really like to meet you. All of you, actually, but especially Harry. I hope you don't mind?"

"Sure"

Dennis parents were both rather short and skinny. His mother had big, brown eyes and curly, light brown hair. She held a handkerchief pressed to her mouth and her eyes were red and teary. His father had blond hair and beady blue eyes and looked like he was barely holding himself together.

Harry nodded at them.

"My condolences, Mr. and Mrs. Creevey. I am very sorry for your loss. Colin was… He didn't deserve this. He was a good and brave young man."

Tears were now streaming down both of their faces and Mrs. Creevey hugged Harry shortly.

"You must be the famous Harry Potter then. I wanted to thank you. For what you did. You ended the war and now my son is safe again." Mr. Creevey told him.

"And something more. I think you must have noticed it already, but Colin has always admired you. He used to talk about you so much when he was home. We heard a lot of heroic and interesting stories about you", Mrs. Creevey smiled sadly. "Of course they were probably greatly overexaggerated, they all sounded too dangerous to be able to happen at a normal school in peacetime."

"Yeah, well, but Hogwarts isn't really a normal school, is it?" Dennis muttered.

"Well, I'm sure they were indeed." Harry scratched his neck uncomfortably.

"But what I was trying to say is… You were such an inspiration to Colin, and I couldn't thank you enough for it. You gave him something worth fighting for."

Harry thanked them, told them it was an honour and as quickly as was polite made his back to his friends.

"I whish people would stop bloody thanking me. It doesn't feel good." He whispered to Ginny. "Now she's thanking me for giving a reason for Colin to fight. Like I don't think about it enough already if he fought for me."

Just then the muggle attendees started arriving and he got distracted by Luna and another witch's effort to act as muggle as possible, in which they failed dramatically.

In the thirty minutes that followed Harry felt a lot of the wizarding kids staring at him, and a few even approached them to talk to them. Ron enjoyed the attention and proudly emphasized the horrors of their camping trip when people asked what they had been up to. But, Harry also noticed some insecurity and pain, underneath the role of the confident hero when he talked about their adventures. Of course he didn't state a single word on their mission.

After the official part of the funeral, when most of the muggles had gone back home one by one, there were only magical people and Colin's parents left. One by one, they paid their respects to Colin with a short statement, mostly about his bravery and his endless enthusiasm and energy, after which they placed a protective charm over the grave and sent a silver shot of light flying into the morning sky.

Then it was Harry's turn, he was last. He thanked Colin for his bravery and loyalty and told a short anecdote of Colin in the DA. Then he hesitated. He didn't want to look like he was showing off or draw the attention to himself, but on the other hand it felt like it was the only right charm to do for Colin, because it linked back to the DA, and the idea of his stag guarding Colin's peace felt… It felt right, especially if the source was linked to Colin himself. So he did it anyways.

"Expecto Patronum", he whispered, while thinking of the anecdote he had just retold that had send tears of laughter streaming down his face at the time. A silver stag burst out of the tip of his wand and started patrolling around Colin's grave. Several people gasped at the sight. It _was_ truly beautiful.

"That should keep away fear and feelings of sadness and despair…"

However, the magical feel was disturbed by a shout.

"What?!"

Harry spun around, his wand pointed towards the unfamiliar voice, ready to defend.

Suddenly, the source of the shout emerged from the bushes next to the grave.

"What _is_ that? Who are you? At first I just thought you must have some sort of fireworks with you, but let me tell you, fireworks can't do that!" A boy ranted. "You're all from that _mysterious_ boarding school Dennis and Colin go to, aren't you?"

The boy had been introduced to them as one of the neighbours and a very close childhood friend of Colin and Dennis. He was quite big, and Harry had difficulties seeing little Colin being close friends with the rather outspoken and loud teenager.

No one said a word, obviously all very startled because they had just revealed their world to a muggle. The boy stalked towards Harry and pointed a finger at him. He only stopped when he was a few centimetres from Harry. He was taller and bigger than Harry, but Harry didn't flinch, just calmly looked up into the boy's eyes. Only people that looked very closely, people like Hermione, Ron and Ginny, could see his patronus becoming slightly less solid, barely visible to the bare eyes.

"How did you do that?" the boy demanded.

"Steven, please –" Dennis started.

"No, I want to know. How did you do that? I heard you talking earlier. All of you. What is it that you're hiding?"

Harry's thoughts raced through his mind. How could he convince this Steven that there was nothing going on? He wasn't good at coming up with solutions this quickly, that's what he had Hermione for. But even Hermione seemed to know no way out of this.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you mean. We were just paying our last respects to Colin. With fireworks indeed."

Steven didn't at all look like he was bothered by the fact that he was immensely outnumbered.

"Don't play with me! My best friend just died and _I_ want to know the truth of what happened to him!"

"Steven, I told you! He died in a terrorist attack! He –"

"Yeah I know that story now, but I don't think you believe it yourself, do you? The three of us, we were always so close! The two of you were my best friends. My _only _friends. Then, all of a sudden you both go off to some vague boarding school in Scotland and only come home in the holidays. It's always been weird and you know it! Then suddenly Colin dies in a _terrorist attack_ that hasn't even been in the news except for that weird excerpt you gave me. I _heard _you, talking about that school and Colin earlier. All weird words and terms. TELL ME DENNIS, WHAT'S GOING ON?"

Dennis looked like he was close to tears now.

"Please, Steven, please, not here, not now. We just had his bloody funeral, for Merlin's sake!"

But Steven ignored him and turned back to Harry.

"You, tell me what you just did over there. Tell me what's going on!"

He edged even closer to Harry, until he looked down on Harry with their noses mere millimetres apart. But Harry did not flinch. He had faced much more dangerous people than him. He did, however, grasp his wand a little tighter in his pocket.

"I'm afraid you chose the wrong person to intimidate, mate. This one tends not to give in so easily. Also not as easily scared." Ron declared as he stood next to Harry.

Then, it was Hermione anyway that came to the rescue.

"Why don't we explain it to him. And… And… We can obliviate him."

Dennis looked stunned for a moment at the very idea of using magic on his friend, but another glance at his desperate, close to tears, fuming friend told him there wasn't really another option.

"Okay, fine", he sighed.

"What are you going to do, Dennis?" his mother asked uncertainly.

Harry had almost forgotten they were still there too.

"You'll see, mom... Steven… I don't know how to say this but… I'm a wizard. So is – was Colin. We go to a magical boarding school in Scotland. There we learn to perform magic. All these people are wizards and witches too. It wasn't a terrorist attack, but the last battle of our war that killed Colin."

Steven looked at him sceptically.

"You actually thought I'd buy that? Come on, Dennis. Well, show me then. Show me your magic!"

And against of Steven's expectations, Dennis pulled out his wand and thought for a moment.

"Dennis! What are you doing? You told us you can't do magic outside of school!"

"I know mum, but the ministry can't trace it back to me as long as I'm not at home or too close to home. It's fine here."

And after another moment of thought, probably about which charm would be best to prove that he was, in fact, a wizard, he pointed his wand at Colin's headstone and whispered a spell. Suddenly, the inscription changed:

_Colin Creevey  
Proud, brave and loyal member of Dumbledore's Army  
We will forever remember your sacrifice  
We will forever remember your bravery  
We will forever remember you  
Thank you, my beloved brother, for the victory you helped deliver_

"You did that?" Mr. Creevey asked, clearly stunned.

"Yeah. I thought his grave couldn't not include this part of him. It was who he was, after all." He threw a last glance at it, and quickly changed it back to its original, muggle version.

"It's beautiful, Dennis.", a girl from Colin's year declared.

"Does that prove my point?" Dennis asked Steven.

"Show me more."

Dennis performed a few easy charms and spells, such as making things float in the air or enlarging a few things. Finally Steven was convinced.

"So all of you… Why didn't you tell me?" His voice was no longer angry or desperate, but filled with grief and regret. It looked like he and Colin had been quite close after all.

"We can't. It's literally illegal to tell anyone that is not close family. We wanted to, really! You haven't got a clue how hard it was on Colin to come home every vacation and not be able to tell you anything about the amazing adventures he had had."

"Dennis, do you want me to…"

Dennis looked at his friend, and decided.

"No, never mind Hermione. But thanks though. I think I'll leave it like this."

"Okay, if you want to… But we got to go. It's Fred's, this afternoon…"

"Yeah, so I heard. Good luck."

The others took their departure like a signal and they left, leaving Dennis and Steven to discuss things on their own.

Fred's funeral was the hardest. He knew it would be, but that didn't make it any easier. The atmosphere was intensely depressing and Harry couldn't help but think Fred would have had a fit if he found out there wasn't a single laugh at _his_ funeral. George was worse than ever. He stood in between his father and Ron, clutching their shoulders and almost collapsing under the weight of his grief. On Arthur's other side stood Molly, who was sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. Next to her was Ginny, holding her mother tightly with a tear stained face. Next to Ron was Percy, followed by Charlie. Like that the line of Weasleys stood on the front, the only reason they kept standing was the support they found in each other. Harry stood behind them, in between Hermione and Fleur, who both put an arm around him.

Then came the speeches. Harry hoped with all his heart that someone had prepared a funny anecdote or joke about Fred because Merlin knew there were more than enough to choose from.

The first few people who spoke just stated some words about how funny he had been, or how brave or such a good person and how they wish his family all the best. They didn't help at all.

Then came Lee Jordan, the best friend of the twins. He stood up front, with a determined look on his face when he started. While he was talking, Harry could feel the atmosphere in the crowd lighten up. Besides George, there was no one that had witnessed more of Fred's pranks and he had seen a limitless amount of Fred's helpful nature.

He talked about Fred and in somehow managed to recreate an image of Fred, exactly like Harry had known him. He even managed to get a few small laughs out of people.

After he had walked back to stand with the rest of the crowd it became clear no one else had the intention to speech. Apparently, that was the signal they needed, because at that moment Lee and George pointed their wands at the headstone and cried out a spell.

Immediately, jets of light burst out of the top of the stone and flew up to the sky. There they exploded. It was a magnificent show, even more spectacular than the fireworks at Hogwarts during the famous departure of Fred and George in Harry's fifth year.

It was beautiful and after a few seconds it became clear that words began to spell in the air.

_MISCHIEF MANAGED_

And despite everything, Harry laughed. He laughed because it was all Fred had wanted. To make people laugh. For them to be happy. And if that meant he had to fight a war for it, he would. As long as people laughed. And he did it. He bloody did it and now that he had died, they shouldn't let his sacrifice be in vain. They had to keep laughing. For Fred. It would take time, they had to heal, but eventually they would laugh again. For Fred.

When the fireworks died out, Molly turned around and motioned for Hermione, Fleur and Harry to join the line of Weasleys. Harry stood next to Ginny and held her while Fred's coffin was lowered into the ground.

That evening, Ginny hugged Harry extra tightly. The day after, Harry would start his work as an auror and Ron and Hermione were going to Australia. Harry knew she was a bit angry at him for leaving her again, she would be alone again, but he would see her every evening and weekend and she had insisted they accepted Ron and Hermione's offer to join them in Australia after a few weeks. Harry wasn't so sure about that yet, but Ginny could be _very_ persistent.

"Harry" Ron had made it a habit to declare himself as loudly as acceptable whenever Harry and Ginny were together, just to make sure they weren't doing anything he didn't want to see.

"Harry. I just wrote this letter to Kingsley. I'm going to accept his offer and become an auror. I'll only start after the summer, though."

"Really? That's great! I bet you'll become an awesome auror. Auror Weasley", Harry grinned.

"Yeah… Look, we're leaving early tomorrow so…"

"Don't be ridiculous, I'll be there in the morning to wave you goodbye. For now, Good night."

"Good night"

**So that's it for now. Thanks for reading and please review!**

**XXX**


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